Marshal re-opens in NZ with Auckland R&D center

19.04.2006
Email and Internet content security software company Marshal Ltd. is back in New Zealand. The company opened its new Auckland office and R&D center seven weeks ago and there is room for expansion, said CEO Ed Macnair.

'If we can recruit people fast enough, we will have 50 staff in New Zealand by the middle of the year,' he said. 'Our biggest challenge right now is to recruit enough people.'

The company was previously known as Marshal Software and acquired by global security management software vendor NetIQ Corp.'s in 2002. One of NetIQ's first moves was to relocate several processing functions to the U.S. and Europe, making local staff redundant.

In June 2004, NetIQ shut down the New Zealand operation entirely, at the cost of the remaining 25 jobs. All security development migrated to NetIQ's development center in Houston, Texas.

The new company is a result of a management buyout initiated by Macnair, previously head of worldwide sales of Marshal products at NetIQ. Macnair found an investment partner in the U.K.-based private equity firm, Kelso Place Asset Management Ltd.

'When we got the opportunity [to acquire Marshal] I jumped at the chance,' he said. 'Last year I contacted the old Marshal team in New Zealand and asked if they wanted to come on board, and we got everybody that we wanted to get.'