Cork technical translation company LocalEyes has been acquired by Italian company Star7 in a deal worth in excess of €25m.

LocalEyes was established in 1997 to support Apple in globalising its brand, and has grown alongside the Cupertino tech giant,  especially in Europe, working on technical and customer-facing content translation and localisation.

LocalEyes, owned by Milan businessman Carlo Cozza (60), had turnover of €18.2m in 2020 and booked an operating profit of €3.8m. Sixty per cent of revenue was sourced in Ireland, and the company paid Cozza €5.5m in dividends. This was slightly less than the total payroll overhead.

Localeyes Ltd had an average of 115 employees in 2020, down from 161 the year before. Average pay amounted to €41,000, and company contribution to staff pensions was 2.5% of salaries.

Star7 has operated in the content and product information sector for more than 20 years, providing support for product and process engineering, creating and managing technical content, as well as marketing, translation, printing and virtual experience.

In Association with

LocalEyes chief executive Linda Spahija said: “We chose Star7 because of the close match between the history and the vision of our two businesses. We both have content localisation in our DNA, have seen extraordinary growth and view a tailor-made approach to business for premium customers as our mission.

“We’re looking forward to joining this big family, and we’re ready for the challenge — which we’re sure will lead to us achieving great things.”

Star7 chief executive Lorenzo Modo added: “Three significant reasons make today's acquisition of LocalEyes a key step forward in Star7 Group’s strategic development. It greatly strengthens our presence in Europe and the United States, we now lead the strategic technology sector for global content services and we have gained a customer of the calibre of Apple.”

Star7 was advised on financial due diligence by BDO.