Blue Sky buys Readify for $16 million

Blue Sky Alternative Investments Ltd., the listed investment firm with $350 million in assets under management, says its private equity arm has acquired Melbourne-based software developer Readify for $16 million.

 Founded in 2001, Readify has developed software for Australia Post, MYOB, Seek and Webjet. Blue Sky Private Equity will make a further $10 million in capital available to support Readify’s expansion as mobility, cloud, big data and the proliferation of new devices drive demand for software.

“Great software innovation drives organisational productivity and profit,” says Readify’s managing director Graeme Strange, who retains a minority stake in the business.

The company’s revenue growth has been as much as 25 per cent a year over the last six years, according to a statement from Blue Sky, which didn’t provide any further details on Readify’s earnings.

Blue Sky Private Equity typically seeks to invest in what it perceives are high growth businesses run by founders with enterprise value between $30 million to $100 million.

The acquisition is Blue Sky Private Equity’s fifteenth investment. Brisbane-based Blue Sky has sold two of its investments and has produced a 19 per cent return a year on its private equity outlay since 2006.

“We’re happy to take minority or control positions as long as we feel like we’re backing the right team,” Alexander McNab, director of Blue Sky told DataRoom.

The firm doesn’t break down capital allocation pools for its investments in private equity, private real estate, investment in real assets and hedge funds.