IRESS has expanded further into the South African financial services market with the purchase of Peresys for $56.1 million.
In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, the Australian financial services firm said the acquisition would provide significant scale and an extensive product range in South Africa.
"For some time, IRESS has assessed the opportunity and timing to expand our presence in South Africa from wealth management and introduce our financial market services such as order execution, trading and market data," IRESS managing director Andrew Walsh said.
Under the terms of the deal, the Peresys management team will be retained, with staff set to take ownership of local delivery as more of the IRESS product is introduced.
The South African division of IRESS will be led by Ashley Mendelowitz and Philippe Moretonas, who will both report directly to Walsh.
The transaction has prompted an increase in costs for IRESS's Australian operations, with the firm appointing a chief operating officer.
IRESS will fund the acquisition through its existing cash reserves.
The Australian company is still in the process of confirming the tax consequences of the transaction, with details expected in the firm's annual results next month.
The international acquisition comes just months after dealer group Count Financial signed IRESS as its financial planning software provider.
IRESS's wealth management platform, Xplan, will replace Count's proprietary system, WealthPlanner, which is set to be decommissioned in December.
Through Xplan, Count estimates that productivity of the advice process could increase by up to 50 per cent.
Xplan will be implemented for an initial pilot group of Count members this month, with a rollout across the group to begin in March.
