The entire stake in Halcom was sold by the Čadež family, including the founder and chairman Matjaž Čadež, who said in a press release that they were putting Halcom staff and clients into "great hands".

"When looking for the right company to partner with and help chart the next 20 years of Halcom, I could not have found an organization that met more of my objectives than Emphasys," said Čadež.

Founded in 1992, Halcom provides technological solutions for financial institutions. According to information on its website, its clients include four central banks and clearing institutions and more 70 commercial banks in nine countries in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

In an interview with Friday's edition of Finance, Čadež said that in their business the expectation for the company was to have a strong capital basis, which was a challenge for a family business.

"We knew that a strategic partner could make us stronger abroad, not just in this part of the world," said Čadež.

Halcom CEO Marko Valjavec said that the acquisition provided Halcom with "solid financial backing and organizational support to enhance our products and services, further grow our customer base and expand regionally".

Based in the US, Emphasys Software provides software solutions and related services to entities in the public and private sectors, and is part of the Canadian corporation Constellation Software.

"We are excited to bring in such a strong team to the Emphasys family. In working with the leadership at Halcom we can see how their values fit well with ours and their commitment to their client base is very deep," Emphasys CEO Mike Byrne was quoted as saying in the press release.

Čadež also told Finance that for the past year and a half he had been focussing on the mBills mobile app, which is not subject to the acquisition by the US company. Developed in Halcom's startup division, mBills enables the payment of bills via smart phone.

"We would also like a partner here to help us with the project's expansion. We believe this is the most advanced of all systems available in the market, but it is clear such a small firm as ours cannot get into global markets fast enough without a strong partner."

Halcom posted sales of EUR 9.1m for 2015, the latest year for which data are available, and a net profit of half a million euros.