Wipro to acquire Germany's cellent AG for Rs 518 crore

Country's third-largest software services firm Wipro said on Wednesday it will acquire German IT consulting firm cellent AG for 73.5 million euros (about Rs 518 crore).

The all-cash deal is expected to close in the March 2016 quarter, Wipro said in a filing to the BSE.

"Wipro has signed an agreement with Landesbank Baden- Wuerttemberg (LBBW) to acquire cellent AG for 73.5 million euros... The shares are being acquired through Wipro's subsidiary Wipro Cyprus," it said.

The acquisition will provide Wipro with significant scale in the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and prime customer relationships, especially in the manufacturing and automotive domains, Wipro Chief Executive Manufacturing and Hi-Tech NS Bala said.

Founded in 2002 in Germany, cellent (a subsidiary of LBBW) has offices in Germany (eight), Austria (two) and Switzerland (one). Its service portfolio includes SAP consulting, software development, managed services and infrastructure services.

The privately held company had revenues of 87 million euros in 2014 and has over 800 consultants.