Kirona Group, a portfolio company of LDC, has acquired Xmbrace to mark its first deal under private equity control.

LDC-backed business software company Kirona Group has purchased Xmbrace for an undisclosed amount.

The deal follows comes eight months after LDC initially invested in the Kirona to support its targeted acquisitions strategy.

Watford-based Xmbrace provides scheduling software to the UK social housing sector and has been a partner of Kirona since 2006.

Kirona’s buy of Xmbrace is the third bold-on for a portfolio company founded by LDC’s North West team this year after Direct Group’s acquisitions of Circuit UK and Simple Insurance.

Kirona’s software allows users to connect with clients, offices and field workers in real time. The company has clients including BT and Vodafone.

The Cheshire-based business was established in 2003 by former Oracle executives David Murray and Neil Harvey, and develops software products for a wide range of industries across the public and private sectors.

David Murray, managing director at Kirona, says the deal will allow the company to work with partners of both businesses to provide ‘differentiated, dynamic scheduling systems’.

Following the transaction, founder and CEO of Xmbrace David Todd and operations director Richard Winch will remain with the enlarged business. The new entity expects to post sales of £7 million for the year ending March 2013.

Todd says, ‘Kirona shares our vision to drive growth through offering a complementary and integrated product set to both existing and new customers by maximising our combined routes to market.’