South Auckland email and web content scanning software developer Marshal Software has been bought by a US company for $US23 million.
San Jose-based NetIQ has bought all of Marshal Software, a 57-person private company with sales of $12 million in its last financial year.
NetIQ isn’t guaranteeing that Marshal’s employees will keep their jobs indefinitely, but says there’s every likelihood of expansion of the New Zealand development centre.
Marshal general manager John Skeates says the publicly listed US company has a history of acquisitions and retention of existing facilities.
“NetIQ has paid a good price for us and people are an important part of that,” Skeates says.
He says New Zealand staff have been offered the opportunity to buy stock in NetIQ and have been granted other benefits including health insurance.
But he acknowledges the question will be asked whether the sale represents a sell-out.
“I’d love us to be a global New Zealand-based company but it wasn’t going to happen. I do have mixed feelings around belonging to a US company.”
He says Marshal “needed greater mass” to lift its 1% to 2% share of the content scanning market.
Skeates’ new boss, NetIQ strategy and development manager Tom Kemp, says the US company began talking to Marshal about six months ago.
“Marshal was exactly in line with what our customers wanted,” says Kemp.
NetIQ reported revenue of $US275 million in the year to the end of June.