Iris set to sell to ICG and Hgcapital in massive £1.2bn deal

London-based investment firm Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) is set to win the race to buy Iris, a software provider to GP surgeries.

At £1.2bn, the deal will be Britains largest ever software takeover.

The bidding process also saw strong interest from global investment giants such as the private equity branch of Canadian pension fund Omers. It will likely conclude within the coming days, Sky News first reported yesterday.

Read more: Iris, a software supplier to GPs and businesses, could fetch more than £1bn as private equity owner sticks it on the block

ICG, which reported strong profits in its fund management business yesterday, will be joined as an investor in Iris by Hgcapitals Saturn fund.

Hg has been an investor in Iris since 2004, and has retained a stake through several deals already. A source told Sky News that the dale of Iris from the existing fund to the Saturn fund and ICG could return up to four times the invested capital.

Iris, which has also served businesses such as Uniqlo and Q Hotels, generates more than 80 per cent of revenues from subscriptions and so has relatively predictable cash flow.

For the year ended April 2017, its revenue had climbed 15 per cent to £113m.

Read more:Private equity-backed accountancy firm challenger expands with new investment

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