LotusWorks taken over in management buyout

Founder Fergal Broder to stay on as chief executive and shareholder

LotusWorks  financial director Gerard Sproule; marketing director Emer Conroy; chief executive Fergal Broder; and human resources director Mark Butler
LotusWorks financial director Gerard Sproule; marketing director Emer Conroy; chief executive Fergal Broder; and human resources director Mark Butler

Irish-founded LotusWorks has been taken over by four of its senior executives as part of a management buyout, with the firm looking to increase its technical and engineering capability.

The company, which partners organisations seeking specialist engineering expertise, said the MBO team had bought a majority stake in the business, backed by AIB Corporate Banking. The value of the sale is not being disclosed.

The four are: James Casey, operations director; financial director Gerard Sproule; human resources director Mark Butler; and marketing director Emer Conroy.

The company, which was founded by Fergal Broder in 1989, has annual turnover of €50 million and employs 520 full-time staff in Europe and the US. Mr Broder retains a stake in the firm and will continue as chief executive. However, chief operations officer Tom Cafferkey will step down from the business at the end of the year.

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“We had always hoped that we would have a team within the company which would be capable of taking LotusWorks to its next stage,” Mr Broder said. “This team’s significant collective experience and their personal commitment to the business gives us great confidence that we will see the business go from strength-to-strength.

“We are delighted that they succeeded and I have no doubt they will continue to evolve the business positively providing job security to our growing workforce.”

Clients

The company has clients in the life science, medtech, semiconductor, automotive and data centre sectors.

“The management team is looking forward to continuing the LotusWorks success story and to accelerating the growth of the business, while retaining excellent customer service levels and providing a great work environment for all our staff,” Mr Casey said. “It’ll be very much business as usual.”

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien is an Irish Times business and technology journalist