Facilita sold to London firm

CHESHIRE’S Facilita Software Development has been bought by London software tester TestPlant for an undisclosed sum.

The Congleton-based firm specialises in load testing software, servers and websites and is owned by Gordon McKeown, Peter Greenwood and Ian Parker. There are also three small shareholders – John and Judith Gallagher, and William Horne.

Mr McKeown and Mr Parker will take on senior roles at TestPlant, while Peter Greenwood is retiring.

The Facilita offices in Congleton, which has 12 staff, will become TestPlant’s support and development centre in the UK.

Mr McKeown said: “All of us at Facilita are delighted to be now part of a bigger, international team, which will ensure that our customers will continue to have high quality, local support but now within a stronger corporate structure.  

“We look forward to accelerating the development and integration of Forecast and expanding our scope as TestPlant’s UK development centre. Our partners will have more products to sell and they’ll now enjoy support in North America and Asia, as well as here in the UK.”

TestPlant has operations in Europe, North America and Asia and says the deal has made it the largest European company focused exclusively on software testing services.

George Mckintosh, TestPlant’s largest shareholder and chief executive, said: “The acquisition of Facilita is a great step forward. It makes strong market sense and is great news for our customers and for all the employees based around the world. Facilita’s technology and products add significantly to our capabilities, allowing us to compete directly with the largest product companies in software testing, such as HP and Micro Focus.”

James Sheridan, Andrew Sturge, David Hayes and Laura Pointon at the Manchester law firm Turner Parkinson advised on the transaction.