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Infosys has taken one of its very rare excursions into M&A-land, acquiring the software solutions practice of Telecom New Zealand ICT arm, Gen-i. In effect, Infosys will back its own fledgling NZ operation into the acquired unit, installing Gen-i management to run the delivery side of the shop. It appears that TNZ and Infosys will go to market as a sort of onshore/offshore hybrid, with 150 FTEs in the mix and another 15-30 to hire.
Gen-i is a bit like a BT Global Services operation, providing voice, data and IT services for TNZ’s business customers. The IT services bit turned over NZ$466m (about US$375m) in FY10 (to 30th June 2010), flat yoy. The deal will provide a significant boost for Infosys’ Australasian business, which had revenues of US$216m in the year to 31st March 2011. Terms for the acquisition were not disclosed but Infosys has a cash pile of ‘only’ $3.7b, so I assume this came out of the tea money.
I’m going to hazard a guess that TNZ is a notable Infosys NZ customer and that there is an outsourcing contract involved in there somewhere. But it does all seem to make sense.
