The deal, subject to shareholder approval, values the entire issued share capital of Documetric at £13.8 million. IE is also raising around £4.5 million through a share placing at seven pence a share.

The combined firm will be called Parseq.

Documetric has a six per cent market share in UK wage and salary BACS payments market and provides a BACS BPO service on behalf of banks to over 79,000 of their SME.

For the year ended 31 December 2009, the firm reported revenues of £10.2 million and profits before tax of £1.8 million. The enlarged group's pro-forma revenues for the financial year ended 31 December 2009 were £16.6 million, the majority of which is viewed as recurring.

IE says the deal creates a strong new business with significant scale and capability providing a complete end-to-end service in the growing BPO market. It also combines iE's expertise in online and mobile banking markets with Documetric's middle and back office.

Clive Richards, non-executive chairman, iE and proposed deputy non-executive chairman of the new group, says: "With our new, combined offering, I believe there exists a real opportunity for the enlarged group to drive growth within both established and new markets and to better capture the opportunities inherent in the online and mobile banking market where iE currently has a competitive technology advantage."

The net proceeds of the share placing are about £3.5 million which will be used as working capital for the new group, to repay part of the existing debt of the Documetric Group, and to provide the resources to allow it to increase its market share in the BPO and self-service banking market though complementary acquisitions and organic growth.