The former shareholders of the Irish telecommunications software company, Euristix, have made a financial killing, after the US company which bought Euristix was itself bought out by British electronics giant GEC.
Euristix shareholders received $81 million (€76.4 million) worth of Fore Systems shares when they sold their company to the American group in late February.
Those shares were valued at the time at $16.19 each, but GEC has now made an agreed offer to buy Fore for $35 a share or $4.5 billion. That means a 116 per cent profit for the Euristix shareholders in the space of two months.
The biggest single beneficiary of the GEC takeover is Euristix managing director Mr Jim Mountjoy, whose Fore shares have risen in value from $14.6 million at the time of the buyout to $31.5 million based on GEC's $35-a-share offer.
Two other executives, Mr Leonard Donnelly and Mr Pat Stuart, who each received $8.1 million worth of Fore shares, have seen the value of those shares rise to $17.5 million.
The other Euristix shareholders included Enterprise Ireland which received $6.48 million in Fore shares from the buyout. Those shares are now worth $14 million.
Another 30 per cent of Euristix was held by nine Business Expansion Scheme investors who each received $3.24 million worth of Fore shares. These shares are now worth $7 million each while another BES investor, who owned 5 per cent stake of Euristix, has seen his Fore shares rise in value from $4.05 million to $8.75 million.
Another 6 per cent of Euristix was owned by the group's 150 employees. The value of the Fore shares in respect of this combined stake has risen from $4.9 million to $10.5 million.
