Wipro to buy U.K.-based Capco for $1.45 billion

Software-services major Wipro on Thursday announced one of the biggest acquisitions in the Indian information technology (IT) sector in recent times. The Bengaluru-based IT firm will acquire London-headquartered consultancy firm Capco for $1.45 billion in cash. The last time the country’s tech space witnessed a mammoth acquisition of this nature was back in 2018 when Noida-based HCL Technologies bought certain software products of global tech giant IBM for $1.8 billion.

The recent deal is expected to boost one of Wipro’s key revenue generators: offerings for the banking and financial services industry. The privately held British firm provides technology consulting to banking and financial institutions across Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific regions, Wipro said in its filings to the exchanges, claiming that with this acquisition it will be “one of the largest end-to-end global consulting, technology, and transformation service providers to the banking and financial services industry”.

According to Wipro’s statement, the deal would be a marriage between the company’s capabilities in strategic design, digital transformation, cloud, cybersecurity, IT, and operations services with Capco’s domain and consulting strength. The acquisition will allow clients to gain access to a partner who can deliver integrated, bespoke solutions to help fuel growth and achieve their transformation objectives. Wipro further added that Capco has an experienced executive team and over 5,000 business and technology consultants based across 30 global locations across 16 countries supporting clients. Besides the financial services sector, Capco also serves clients in the energy and commodities trading sector.

“Wipro and Capco share complementary business models and core guiding values, and I am certain that our new Capco colleagues will be proud to call Wipro home,” said Thierry Delaporte, CEO and managing director, Wipro.

The acquisition is expected to close in the quarter ending June 30, 2021.

Founded in 1998, Capco, which works with more than 100 clients, posted consolidated revenue of $720 million for the year-ended December 31, 2020.

Talking about the acquisition, Capco pointed out in a statement that it would use the present deal as an opportunity to leverage the complementary capabilities and “similar cultures of both companies to drive industry change”.

According to data analytics company Tracxn, Wipro has made 19 acquisitions in the past. Tracxn data reveals that the IT company has spent over $2.49 billion for the earlier acquisitions. Wipro has invested in multiple areas such as platform-as-a-service (PaaS), including cloud computing, manufacturing technology, and more.

Tracxn data also points out that last year Wipro made about three acquisitions, which included the Chennai-based Encore Theme Technologies, a provider of SaaS and cloud solutions for financial services companies, for an undisclosed amount; U.S.-based Eximius Design for $80 million, and Belgium-headquartered 4C for 68 million euros (approximately ₹588 crore). San Jose-headquartered Eximius Design is an engineering services company focussing on semiconductor, software, and systems design, while 4C is one of the largest Salesforce partners in the U.K., Europe, and the Middle East.

Shares of Wipro closed at ₹438.85 apiece, up 0.78%, on the BSE on Thursday, while overall, the Sensex ended the day down by 1.16%.