To Boost Consulting Practise, NIIT Acquires US-Based Group

Talent development company and managed training services provider NIIT on Saturday announced it has acquired St Charles Consulting Group (StC), for a 'fixed consideration' of USD 23.4 million (about Rs 192 crore).

Headquartered in St Charles, Illinois, StC is a provider of consulting, design, and implementation solutions for strategic learning programmes to professional services firms and Fortune 500 companies.

"NIIT...announced today that it has acquired 100 per cent membership interest in St Charles Consulting Group LLC through its wholly-owned subsidiary, NIIT (USA), Inc," the company said in a statement.

The acquisition was completed at a fixed consideration of USD 23.4 million subject to certain adjustments. In addition, the definitive agreements provide for payment of annual performance based earnouts over the next four years.

The acquisition helps NIIT add significant presence in the professional services and management consulting sectors while strengthening its fast-growing learning consulting practice.

"The transaction is in line with NIIT's stated goal of accelerating growth through investments that add new capabilities to bring more value to its customers and strengthen presence in attractive customer segments," the statement said.

St Charles' experience in strategic learning programmes aimed towards advancing overall strategy, addressing business priorities, and key initiatives at large companies, are in high demand.

NIIT believes there is a significant growth opportunity for StC's business going forward and expects the transaction to be margin and EPS (earning per share) accretive from the first year, it added.

"Learning and Development (L&D) is at the epicentre of change in a post-pandemic world that is going through rapid business and industry transformation. As organisations strive to build and retain talent and skills for a future-ready workforce, L&D is leading the way on many key initiatives," Sapnesh Lalla, CEO and Executive Director of NIIT said.

Larry Durham, President of StC said: "The time couldn't be better to join forces with NIIT to bring a broader array of capabilities to our clients. The two firms bring complementary learning capabilities and offerings which will allow us to more fully serve our clients and be even more competitive in the marketplace." 

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