Sonata buys 50% in German co for euro 18 mn
Bangalore-based IT company Sonata Software has acquired a majority stake in the German firm TUI Info Tec. Sonata has acquired 50.1% in the Hanover-based company for euro 18 m, to be paid through borrowings and cash.
The Indian IT consultancy and software company has signed an agreement with TUI AG, Europe’s leading tourism and shipping group, for acquiring the controlling stake in its subsidiary, TUI InfoTec, which has revenues of e130m and employs 432 people, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
B Ramaswamy, president & managing director, Sonata Software told ET, “We already have a presence in the UK. But we wanted to have a foothold in the rest of Europe, hence this acquisition. This deal would help us tap into the relatively untapped and under-served German market, and TUI Info Tec would help provide local knowledge and language skills.”
“The combination of Sonata’s 1,700-strong India development facility and TUI Info Tec’s 400-plus onshore German IT professionals with extensive skills in infrastructure management and mission-critical software applications would provide compelling value proposition for European customers looking for a proven, low-risk, cost-effective and high quality outsourcing option,” he added.
The company also aims to enter the infrastructure management space with this acquisition, which normally would take years to build and develop, Mr Ramaswamy said.
“This is an enormous leapfrog for us in the infrastructure management space,” he added. Heinz Kreuzer, Group CIO of TUI and MD of TUI InfoTec, said that 44% of the company’s revenues in ’05 was contributed by software services and the rest by IT infrastructure management.
“There would also be transition of the on site work of TUI Info Tec, as its on site jobs would be transferred to India with Sonata, which would mean that we would also be increasing our employee strength here substantially,” Mr Ramaswamy said. “TUI’s employees would then be used for attending to the new clients in new geographies,” he added.
At present Tata Consultancy Services, India’s largest applications services firm, has a dedicated remote infrastructure management centre in Chennai with a capacity of more than 2,500 seats.
Wipro Technologies claims to have the largest infrastructure services practice, with more than 6,500 infrastructure experts supporting over 200 clients in the US, Europe and Japan, apart from its Indian customers.
TUI Info Tec has capabilities in remote infrastructure management and domain knowledge in verticals like travel, tourism, airlines and hospitality, as well as expertise in horizontals like enterprise applications, web applications, business intelligence, and legacy applications management.
Its subsidiaries include Travel BA.sys and ACCON RVS which provide a technology platform and back-office services for travel agencies respectively. Mr Ramaswamy said that the management of TUI Info Tec would also undergo changes.
Source:
