Wipro Ltd, India’s third-largest software services exporter, said Wednesday it will take over the information technology units of German wholesaler Metro AG for about €40 million ($48.7 million or Rs 359 crore).
Bengaluru-based Wipro said in a statement it will take control of Metro’s IT units in Germany and Romania as part of the deal. More than 1,300 employees across Germany, Romania and India will transfer to Wipro.
The transaction also involves Wipro getting a contract to manage Metro’s IT business for five years. The estimated value of this contract is $700 million.
The contract can be extended by four years. In that case, the total value will touch up to $1 billion, Wipro said.
Wipro joins bigger rival Tata Consultancy Services Ltd in taking over the IT units of a German company. TCS, India’s No.1 software services exporter, said last month it would acquire Deutsche Bank AG’s IT units.
Wipro said it will provide cloud, data centre services, workplace and network services, and application development and operations to Metro under the contract to drive the German company’s digital transformation.
“Partnering with Wipro allows us to simplify and streamline our IT landscape, and critically gives us access to innovation and the best digital practices,” said Timo Salzsieder, CIO at Metro AG.
This is Wipro’s fifth acquisition within sixth months. In October, it agreed to acquire California-based Eximius Design for $80 million in an all-cash deal and Chennai-based Encore Theme Technologies Pvt. Ltd for up to $12.8 million.
The company struck two acquisitions in July. It first decided to purchase Brazilian IT services company IVIA Servicos de Informatica Ltda for $22.4 million and then snapped up Belgium-based 4C for $78.7 million to boost its Salesforce vertical.
