Infosys to acquire Swiss firm Lodestone for $349 m

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Infosys Technologies on Monday said it will acquire global management consultancy firm Lodestone Holding for an aggregate enterprise value of 330 million Swiss Francs ($349 million or Rs 1,932 crore) in cash.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of October 2012, subject to customary closing conditions.

Upon completion, the acquisition of Lodestone will strengthen Infosys Consulting and Systems Integration (C&SI) capabilities, by bringing more than 850 employees, including 750 experienced SAP consultants to the company, Infosys said in a statement.

The acquisition will also add more than 200 clients across industries, including manufacturing, automotive and life sciences, to the Infosys pool of over 700 clients.

"A key plank of our Infosys 3.0 strategy is to expand our C&SI. This acquisition fits perfectly into that strategy. Lodestone and Infosys share a culture of unwavering focus on nurturing and maintaining client trust," Infosys CEO and managing director S.D. Shibulal said.

Headquartered in Zurich, Lodestone advises international companies on strategy and process optimisation, and provides business transformation solutions enabled by SAP's enterprise solutions.

Post-acquisition, the combined consulting practice focussing on SAP programs will deliver revenues of more than USD 1 billion, the statement added.

Infosys Consulting & Systems Integration business at present has more than 30,000 consultants across 10 industry verticals and accounts for 31 per cent of the company's revenue.

The combination of the breadth of capabilities delivered by Infosys and Lodestone's experience of driving transformational change, is expected to provide clients across the two companies, a world-class team to accelerate transformation and innovation led growth, it said.

The Lodestone acquisition will also significantly enhance its global presence, particularly in continental Europe and emerging markets like Latin America and Asia Pacific.

"We are eager to leverage the widely acknowledged global reach of Infosys and its leadership in the consulting and technology arena to deliver greater value to our clients. This will enhance the momentum that Lodestone is already witnessing in the marketplace," Lodestone chairman and CEO Ronald Hafnerv said.

Linklaters LLP is acting as the legal advisor to Infosys, while UBS AG is acting as financial advisor and Baker & McKenzie acted as legal advisor to Lodestone.