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Irish group Paragon buys Scytl through Service Point
ERIC GALIÁN
Barcelona
OCT 22. 2020 - 15:59
Scytl headquarters in Enric Granados street in Barcelona. ELENA RAMON EXPANSION
End to the Scytl soap opera. The Irish group Paragon has acquired the production unit of the electronic voting company after the approval of the Commercial Court number 6 of Barcelona, which handled the bankruptcy of the Spanish company. The operation will be formalized through Service Point, the company of reprography and graphic solutions bought by Paragon in 2015, as this newspaper has learned from sources familiar with the operation. The company has published a relevant fact this morning in which it clarifies that a newly created subsidiary, called Scytl Election Technologies, will be formed, wholly owned by Service Point, to manage the assets and intellectual property of the voting firm.The transaction also includes the Civiciti citizen participation platform and all the group's subsidiaries in the United States, Canada, Australia, France and Greece.
This outcome allows saving 140 jobs and giving continuity to a business that, with the rise of digitization after the Covid crisis, is called upon to gain integers between governments and organizations. Paragon's plans are to relaunch Service Point as "a high-growth pan-European digital business platform."
Scytl entered the bankruptcy after dragging debts of more than 80 million euros. The firm requested the liquidation with the intention that the Sandton Capital fund would keep the productive unit. The judge dismissed this possibility as a takedown offer and the sale entered an auction process in which only Paragon has bid to the end.
Purchasing through Service Point is understandable, as it is the main link between Paragon and the Spanish market. Service Point is what is known in stock market slang as a pea , due to its high volatility and low activity. In recent weeks, however, the value of the company has exploded. Between October 8 and 9, its shares grew 137%. Its shares are now trading at 0.5 euros per share, compared to 0.3 euros at the beginning of the month.
According to the latest accounts deposited, the parent company of the voting firm, Scytl Secure Electronic Voting, had a turnover of 5.9 million in 2018 and lost 8.8 million euros. Founded in 2001 as a spin off of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), the company was led by its founder, Andreu Riera, until his death in 2006. Since then, the executive Pere Vallès, current CEO of the online travel agency Exoticca, piloted the international expansion of the firm.