The takeover of a Gloucestershire software firm has been described as 'the next round of funding' to help the business grow still further.

Kallidus, a Cotswold-headquartered e-learning software company which employs 115 staff in the county, has been sold by FPE Capital, to Apse Capital.

FPE Capital is understandably pretty pleased with itself. It backed the management buy-out of Kallidus back in 2015 to help the firm grow and it has walked away with a 30 -plus per cent return on its investment (31 per cent IRR return).

Rob Caul, chief executive officer at Cirencester-based Kallidus, and one of those who led the MBO, said: "We are delighted with the support FPE has given us, helping us grow organically and through acquisition.

"Kallidus is at an exciting stage of its growth story and we believe we will benefit from Apse Capital's expertise and support in our next stage of growth."

Henry Sallitt, managing partner at FPE, said: "It has been fantastic to see Kallidus grow and to be part of its development as it benefits from its major investment into the core software platform and expanded product offering.

"We would like to congratulate the team on their significant achievements in the past few years during our partnership with them, and to wish them continued growth and success."

Tim Green, managing partner of Apse Capital said: "The successful completion of our investment in Kallidus marks an exciting phase in its development as we support the Company during the next stage of its growth.

"We look forward to working with Rob and the rest of the management team to continue to deliver world class human capital management and e-learning solutions."

Kallidus also has satellite offices in Bristol and Bulgaria. A source at the firm said the deal was good news for the company, that it was business as usual, and the story was all about the next stage of growth.

During FPE's ownership, Kallidus invested heavily in its SaaS platform and successfully migrated the entire business and customer base to a full multi-tenant solution. FPE's investment has also enabled Kallidus to deliver significant operational and sales process efficiencies to maximise top line revenue growth.

Henry Sallitt and Henry Ropner led the investment for FPE and were non-executive directors of Kallidus through-out the period.

Houlihan Lokey served as financial advisor, Charles Russell Speechlys LLP as legal advisor, RSM as financial due diligence advisor and CIL as commercial advisor to Kallidus. Capital Law and Momentum Corporate Finance advised the management team.