The four directors of Cambridge-based CADCentre Ltd have bought out the company, itself a buy out from the ICL Plc and other owners for a sum in excess of UKP7m. Funding came from investment capital group 3i Plc, which has taken a minority holding while the four directors control 50.1% of the shares. However, the directors say CADCentre employees will have the opportunity to buy shares from their holding. The directors are Crispin Gray, John Dersley, Robin Lee and Richard Longdon; the non-executive chairman is Richard King, chairman of Tadpole Technology Plc. Founded in 1967 as the Computer Aided Design Centre, it was originally a Ministry of Technology reserch establishment, which was bought by ICL Plc, engineering consultants W A Atkins, the University of Cambridge, St John’s College, Trinity College and staff in 1983. The University and colleges are likely to reinvest with their shares coming from 3i’s holding. In the year to March 31 turnover was UKP11m and pre-tax profits UKP1.3m; more than 80% of sales are to overseas market. It has 160 staff in offices in Camrbidge, Japan, the US and Germany. In the latter two it has subsidiaries. Managing director Gray said the plan was to make the company a dominant force in process plant design software; it claims a 25% share in the world market for three-dimensional plant design systems.
