Treacle becomes a major investor in Parsec

Johannesburg, 15 February 2002 - Venture capital company Treacle has invested R3,5m in Parsec Holdings, a privately owned firm that designs and develops hardware and software for product manufacturers.

The move makes Treacle a major investor in Parsec – a double winner in the President's Awards for Export Achievement and the Technology Top 100 Awards.

Parsec was named SA's most outstanding small or medium-sized enterprise last year, and also received the President's Award for technology excellence in the information and communication technology sector.

The service it provides includes designing customised embedded circuit boards for the telecommunication and defence industries.

Parsec CEO Petrus Pelser said Treacle had taken a 22,5% stake.

“We are delighted to have attracted an investor of the calibre of Treacle, which has a special focus on electronic commerce and technology. We welcome their growing involvement in our business,” he said.

Parsec has a turnover of R30m with half of that earned in hard currencies from international clients that include Alcatel and Siemens.

It has grown more that 50% a year for the past three years and achieved an 88% increase in turnover last year.