Sometimes a bold approach — and patience — pays off. This was the case for boutique Italian language service provider (LSP) Opitrad, whose Owner and MD, Annalisa Occhipinti, met and pitched a would-be acquirer of her business at an Italian language association event back in 2021.
Some two years later, Creative Words announced the acquisition of Opitrad. Creative Words’ CEO and Founder, Diego Cresceri, told Slator that he was “intrigued by her proposal from our very first talk.”
Such was the draw that no external consultants were engaged by either company and the two then proceeded to “hammer out the details of the deal,” Cresceri said.
Although the terms of the transaction, which closed on June 22, 2023, are undisclosed, Cresceri revealed that the purchase price was based on Opitrad’s average revenue for the previous three financial years and took into account “the growth patch Opitrad was in.”
Creative Words generated EUR 2.2m (USD 2.4m) in 2022 revenues. Combined with Opitrad, which had revenues of ca. EUR 0.4m in 2022, the company is aiming to achieve a topline of EUR 2.9m (USD 3.2m) in 2023. The joint organization employs 24 full-time employees (FTEs).
Slator 2022 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report
Discussing the rationale behind the deal, Cresceri said he sees a number of upsides, such as Opitrad’s customer base in Europe and among localization buyers, which are key growth areas for the company.
Moreover, in addition to add-on services, such as interpreting, the Opitrad acquisition will allow Creative Words to scale further as Occhipinti is staying on with the company in a business development capacity.
Lastly, he said, “we are looking into leveraging our tech stack and highly-automated processes for Opitrad’s clients […], which would improve their experience and help us differentiate ourselves from competitors.” Currently, Opitrad mainly uses Trados Studio, while Creative Words uses a number of third-party tools — of which Phrase is used most extensively.
For him, the synergies do not stop there, with synergies expected to benefit HR, internal processes, and customer service.
As for retaining Opitrad’s brand and website, Cresceri said no decision has been made yet. Creative Words plans to revisit the matter after analyzing the SEO performance of both company’s websites.
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