Getronics to acquire PinkRoccade in £235m deal

Acquisition will contribute to further consolidation of European software and services sector

IT services supplier Getronics is to buy Dutch vendor PinkRoccade for Eur338m (£235m) in a deal that will contribute further to the consolidation of the European software and services sector.

The combined company will have annual revenues in excess of Eur3bn (£2bn) and a workforce of more than 29,000 staff in 30 countries - with more than 2,000 employees in the UK. The deal is subject to approvals and is expected to be completed by January 2005.

Getronics chief executive Klaas Wagenaar says large customers are increasingly turning to international suppliers with the size and capability to support their operations.

'The acquisition of PinkRoccade provides Getronics with an enhancement of its solutions offering and a strengthening of key market positions in the Netherlands and the UK, where we are doubling our presence,' he said.

Getronics says its existing expertise lies in network and desktop management; application integration and management; and datacentre and outsourcing services. PinkRoccade's focus is infrastructure management and application development and maintenance.

Already this year, UK software and service suppliers including London Bridge, KVS, Synstar and Staffware have been acquired as the industry consolidates following its post-dot com slump.

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