“Wipro has signed an agreement with Landesbank Baden- Wuerttemberg (LBBW) to acquire cellent AG for 73.5 million euros…” The German firm reported about $92 million (Rs 610 crore) in revenue in 2014.
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In an official statement, Wipro’s chief executive, manufacturing and hi-tech, NS Bala said: “Cellent is a well-established player with marquee customers”.
“Cultural synergies and locational proximity are key to building successful customer relationships”. Its services portfolio includes SAP consulting, software development, managed services and infrastructure services.
The acquisition comes within months of Wipro’s buyout of Denmark-based strategic design firm Designit for Rs 594 crore and, together with last year’s acquisition of Canada’s Atco I-Tek for Rs 1,175 crore, suggests that India’s third biggest IT services firm is moving aggressively to expand its geographic footprint, strengthen verticals and thereby also de-risk its operations.
Cellent AG now employs around 800 consultants and serves the DACH market region.
Some experts called the buyout a “catch up” move as the company tries to keep up with larger rivals Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and Infosys Ltd. “Traditional in a sense that the deal logic appears to be about access to clients and about capabilities that are more focused on systems of record rather than engagement”.
Industry watchers opine that this acquisition will help Wipro generate more stable revenues from Europe, whose contribution has come down from 27.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2015 fiscal year to 25.2 per cent in the just-ended September quarter.
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Wipro is a leading information technology, consulting and business process services company that delivers solutions to enable its clients do business better.
