Relational database software and Unix-based applications development tools supplier Unify Corp, Sacramento California is setting up a European holding company – Unify Corp Europe and is relocating its European headquarters from Enschede, Netherlands to Egham, Surrey. The new company will control Unify’s present UK operation, Unify Corp Ltd in Egham, Unify VB in Enschede which also currently houses the company’s European headquarters and Unify GmbH, Munich, which opens next month. It is also relocating its Benelux head office in the Netherlands from Enschede to Utrecht. Unify Europe will also take charge of strategic marketing throughout Europe with joint ventures and distribution in countries where it does not have a subsidiary. Unify is also hoping to raise funds in Europe – it will consider both equity and loan capital funding, including traditional bank borrowing – for joint ventures with local software houses to develop building block applications for users of the Accell applications environment. Negotiations with two UK software houses are under way. The company said it may also consider making acquisitions. The company is also setting up a reseller network in countries where it has established subsidiaries. Unify opened its UK office in 1986 and claims to have established that there is a strong European market for its products. According to European vice-president Paul Beard, the company aims to to double its European business each year for the next three years and ensure a ten-fold turnover increase over the next five years, doubling its European workforce to 30 this year, and growing it to 90 within five years. It wants its European operations to account for about 30% of turnover – it refused to give a geographical breakdown of the company’s recent performance but said turnover during the past financial year reached $20m. Unify Corp has a total of 15 offices and 14 regional distributors worldwide, with a total workforce of 150. It was set up in 1980 by a three-man team which used the C language and tools used to develop a blood bank analysis system for a pharmaceutical company to develop the Unify database and four US venture capital organisations currently have shareholdings in the privately-held company.
Content from our partners
