IDOX is to acquire Computershare Electoral Management Services for £4.4 million.

Software company IDOX is to acquire Computershare Electoral Management Services (CEMS) for £4.4 million.

Under the terms of the deal CEMS, which trades as Strand Business Systems, will be renamed Strand Electoral Management Services.

Strand produces electoral management software, which is currently used by 116 local authorities covering 13 million voters. Formed in 1989, the Essex-based company declared revenues of £1.6 million for the year to June 2010.

AIM-listed IDOX is based in London and has offices in Glasgow, Manchester and Newbury. The company produces computer software for document and content management, for clients that are predominantly in the UK public sector and local government. Around 70 per cent of UK local authorities are IDOX customers.

IDOX will acquire Strand from Computershare, an international share registration company with around 10,000 employees, which bought the company in 2008.

The acquisition of Strand enables IDOX to enter a new local government market with opportunities for growth through cross selling. The deal was financed using existing cash resources.