Tata Consultancy Services shares rose over 2 per cent on Tuesday after India's biggest outsourcer announced the acquisition of IT services firm Alti SA for 75 million euros (nearly Rs 530 crore) in an all cash deal. The French provider of business management software services had revenues of 126 million euros in 2012 with customers in financial services, manufacturing and utilities.
TCS shares closed 1.1 per cent higher at Rs 1,497 on the BSE outperforming the broader BSE IT index, which closed 2 per cent lower.
France-based Alti will boost TCS' presence in the European region, which is the biggest market for Indian IT firms after North America. (Also read: How TCS will benefit from Alti acquisition)
"This acquisition underlines our long-term, strategic commitment to France, which is the third largest IT services market in Europe," TCS CEO N. Chandrasekaran said in a statement.
TCS' acquisition comes months after Infosys' acquisition of Zurich-based Lodestone Holding in September 2012. The deal was valued at 330 million Swiss francs or $350 million (over Rs. 1,900 crore).
Privately held Alti has expertise in enterprise solutions, software testing and CRM solutions and its clients are in the BFSI, manufacturing and utilities sectors. The company employs 1200 people in France, Belgium and Switzerland.
India's leading IT firms are looking to reduce their reliance on Britain as they expand in Europe. European companies are also seen as increasingly open to sending IT work to centres in India as it can help them cut IT costs by as much as 70 percent.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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