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A GOVERNMENT-BACKED INVESTMENT fund plans to put its money into Abtran – the outsourcing company that handles Irish Water billing and complaints.
Carlyle Cardinal Ireland (CCI) today announced it was investing an undisclosed sum in the company, which employs about 2,000 people across its offices in Cork and Dublin.
The privately-managed €292 million CCI fund was set up in 2013 with support from the government’s then-National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF), which put €125 million into the pool. It also includes money from Enterprise Ireland and private investors.
The fund’s stated aim was to take a stake on a commercial basis in Irish small and medium-sized businesses for amounts worth between €5 million and €50 million. It has previously invested in Payzone and chocolate maker Lily O’Brien’s, among others.
Carlyle managing director Peter Garvey said Abtran was a “deeply innovative company” with an excellent management team that had a vision for growing the business.
Its success to date has been built on an impressive track record of high quality service delivery for a diverse base of clients,” he said.
Cardinal Capital’s John Dolan said: “The Abtran team have exciting plans for the development of the business in the medium term and using CCI’s network and resources we look forward to working with management to accelerate those growth plans”
Abtran announced in March that it was hiring 350 temporary staff to handle Irish Water customers in the lead-up to the first bills being sent out in April.
The company also handles customer service and other outsourced work for companies and government agencies like Electric Ireland, Sky and the HSE. In 2009 it was charged with handling the calls for the controversial Local Property Tax.
The government’s Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), which replaced the NPRF late last year, will also have put an estimated €450 million directly into Irish Water in short-term loans by the end of 2015.
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Bernie…Bernie come back ..we’re sorry don’t leave us with this muppit….
@David cotter: if it was Bernie v Trump…then Trump would definitely win…. he’ll probably win anyway but Bernie would make it a certainty.
@SFAnkleTapper: Trump would disagree with you. He’s on tape as saying Sanders would have beat him in 2016 and a lot of Trump voters would have voted for Sanders also.
@SFAnkleTapper: What on earth are you talking about? Every single recent poll has Bernie Sanders and Biden both beating Trump in a general election. Not even Fox News has Trump winning.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/
@Benedict XVI: would they be the same polls that had Hillary as a shoe in? Btw I’m no Trump supporter.
@Corporate capitalism is killing us: your actually using Trump as a basis for a credible story….
@SFAnkleTapper: Biden is a bumbling clown who needs to retire, check his gaffes on YouTube. Bernie would be far stronger them sleepy Joe.
@SFAnkleTapper: Biden’s greatest strength is that it is Trump he is going to be running against. Trump makes Biden’s weaknesses less blatant and Biden is a clear contrast to the type of president Trump is. If it was Biden competing against any other candidate, then I wouldn’t bet on Biden. But with Trump anything is possible (both for Trump and against Trump).
@Benedict XVI: Don’t believe those polls and don’t be taking it too serious. You are most likely going to be disappointed when the results come in.
@SFAnkleTapper: Even though it hurts me to say this,i agree with you in saying that Biden has a much better chance than Bernie.Where I won’t agree with you is dissing the polls that Benedict put up,Trump is not up against Hillary this time.Also,he’ll struggle in the Rust Belt..
@Corporate capitalism is killing us: brilliant, Trump saying that was to try to further divide a very fractured democrat party not an actual acknowledgement that he could have lost.
@David cotter: Bernie is from Ireland? Or do you watch the West wing too much
I thought Democrats where bad when they selected Hillary Clinton as there presidential candidate 4 years but they’ve really outdone themselves this time round
America always gets the politicians it deserves.
@David Shiels: This is a recurring theme for you, am I right? For the record, I like Joe Biden. I would have preferred Bernie.
@David Shiels: Like us? Haughy, Cowan, Ahern, Adams etc.
@Kevin O’ Brienhttps://youtu.be/-rUvUxynOgk
@Macus Mc Mahon: ok
Sanders making a habit of giving up. His voters must be p*ssed off at this.
The only way Biden will win is if he has a decent vice president nomination or if the trump brigade give up on their chosen one. Biden has completely lost the left and continues to put his foot in it further.
@Gerald OBrien the left have lost themselves
have your say