Ion Equity

SouthWestern


SouthWestern is the leading business process outsourcing provider in Ireland. It provides finance, administrative and customer relationship services to a variety of Irish government agencies and leading private sector companies. It also serves customers in the UK and Poland.



Ion Equity acquired SouthWestern in December 2006 as part of its €215m acquisition of the SWS Group. The business was separated from its sister companies shortly after acquisition, to allow it focus on its high-value outsourcing strategy.

Ion Equity led the sale of SouthWestern to Capital plc in August 2014 for €35m, delivering a strong return for shareholders and management.

During its 5 years of ownership, Ion Equity helped SouthWestern deliver significant growth and improve its strategic position. Staff numbers grew from 250 to over 800 and the business opened up new offices in the UK and Poland. SouthWestern diversified from a small number of Irish contracts to a balanced business across a range of private and public customers in Ireland, UK and Poland. Together, this increase in scale and rebalancing of the business made SouthWestern a strategically important target for Capita as it sought to increase its footprint in the niches in which the business operated.

» www.southwestern.ie