NIIT buys German IT services firm

BANGALORE: NIIT has made its fourth acquisition this year by taking over AD Solutions AG (ADS), a privately held German company with subsidiaries in Switzerland and Austria. "This acquisition is a key element of our strategy to address the hitherto under-penetrated European market", said NIIT Technologies, Director and President, Arvind Thakur. Deloitte and Touche of Germany and SSKI were advisors to ADS in this transaction.

ADS, founded in 2000 through the management buy-out of a division of CGI Informatik GmbH, an IBM subsidiary, specializes in developing custom solutions and providing development outsourcing services. Recently, NIIT re-branded its global software business as 'NIIT Technologies'. It has identified finance, insurance, transportation and retail as key verticals and acquisitions as an important strategic element of growth.

In January this year, NIIT acquired the Custom Development Business of Click2Learn. It was followed by the acquisition of Osprey, a SAP solutions provider and DEI, an Insurance industry specialist. NIIT's European operations span the UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland and Germany.

"It will enable NIIT Technologies to effectively address the over $27 billion IT services market in Germany, Switzerland and Austria," Thakur added. The acquisition adds to NIIT a consulting team of 75 professionals. ADS will be a wholly owned subsidiary of NIIT with Rolf Stephan and Thomas Koller as its Executive Directors.

"I am tremendously excited about the opportunity to combine our strong customer access with NIIT's global resources, reach and scalability", said ADS, Founder and CEO, Rolf Stephan. "The SEI-CMM Level 5 processes at NIIT and its ability to execute large scale projects will enable us to provide outsourcing solutions with higher competitiveness", said ADS, Co-CEO, Thomas Koller.

"ADS is a well respected custom solution provider in the Logistics and Financial Industry space with reputed clients", said NIIT, President of Strategic Alliances, CN Madhusudan. "Their team of domain experts, IT consultants and sales professionals will strengthen our service offerings in these markets."