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The Royal Gazette,
Mairi Mallon, October 15, 2003
The new owners of the company that holds the
IBM deal for Bermuda said yesterday that service
would be improved and customers given more choice
when deciding about their computer needs. Bermuda
Computer Services will now not only hold the
IBM contract, but also have Transact as an Internet
service provider and Systems Business Integration
(SBi) as a Microsoft dealer under the same parent
company called Igility. “While the companies
will remain separate, we will be able to offer
customers more choice and many more products
if they want that option,” said Aaron
Smith, one of the new owners and general manger
of BCS Ltd. The company will now stop being
a publicly traded company and has become a privately
owned business with Mr. Smith joined by husband
and wife team Jamie and Joanne Thain as owners
of the business.
“Igility is a group of companies that
are independent but not autonomous,” said
Mr. Thain. “But that does not mean that
we will not try to find synergies and cost savings
within the three companies.” The Bermuda
Stock Exchange on Monday announced that Bermuda
Computer Services had been bought out for $6
million by the Igility Group. And yesterday
Mr. Thain and Mr. Smith spoke to The Royal Gazette
about the buy-out and their plans for the company,
which will see SBi and the BCS group of companies
under the same roof and management in the BCS
Dundonald Street offices with 40 staff. “We
do not plan to make any changes in the next
three months during the transition period,”
said Mr. Thain. “You will not see an advert
for ten jobs in tomorrow's paper. But rather
we will grow organically as the need arises.”
Mr. Thain in fact used to work for BCS, and
went off to start SBi on his own, but wanted
to expand his business further. Mr. Smith has
been general manager of BCS for some years and
had been looking to buy into the company for
some time. “We had both been speaking
to the company chairman, Donald Lines, separately
and it was he who suggested we get together
on this deal,” said Mr. Smith. And Mr.
Thain and Mr. Smith found ideal partners in
each other, they say, with Mr. Thain holding
the information technology expertise and Mr.
Smith the business acumen. “SBi had got
to about 20 employees and I was looking to go
over this number,” said Mr. Thain. “And
I thought that BCS would be a good opportunity.”
Mr. Smith said: “I had been looking to
become a shareholder in the company and this
seemed like a natural step.” The pair
said they started talking in spring this year
and worked out financing from Bank of Bermuda,
before finally sealing the deal this month.
“This is not a start up,” said Mr.
Smith. “We have all been involved with
technical companies. There are four BCS companies
and SBi, which will give us about 40 employees
in total. There will be no redundancies, and
we will be taking on more staff if we grow to
need it.”
Each of the three main entities, SBi, Transact
and BCS will all be housed in the BCS Dundonald
Street offices, but will be in secure individual
cells to make sure there is no exchange of information
between the companies. “We will have customers
in say, SBi, who will not want BCS knowing their
business, and vice versa, “ said Mr. Smith.
“So while the companies can work together,
they are not merging as one.”
The companies were taken on for $6 million without
any debt. A couple of years ago BCS management
injected $1.5 million into Transact, which started
life as an e-commerce start-up which had drained
the company of money for several years, hitting
the bottom line hard and eating into profits.
It then became an Internet service provider
and now the new owners expect great things from
this part of the business. “Transact we
see as being the unpolished jewel in our crown,”
said Mr. Smith who added Transact has done very
well as an ISP and would add a great deal to
the new group of companies.
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