BrazilCGI adds 670 experts in Germany and UK with SCISYS deal
CGI is on the verge of acquiring SCISYS, a European-origin IT consulting and services firm with around 670 professionals. The Canadian-origin outfit is paying around £79 million for a full takeover.
“We look forward to welcoming SCISYS’ team to CGI,” said Tara McGeehan, a leader in CGI’s UK country organsiation. Torsten Strass, a leader in the firm’s Central and Eastern Europe division, added, “The addition of SCISYS consultants and intellectual property will benefit our clients, and in particular making our investment in the European space industry more relevant than ever before.”
Founded in 1980, SCISYS is a mid-sized player in Europe’s IT landscape. The company has eight offices in the UK and Germany. The company, headquartered in Ireland (the firm moved its headquarters from the UK to Ireland last year as a response to the then-pending Brexit), supports its clients with software, solutions, IT services and systems integration.
The company serves clients in several sectors, and has a particularly strong track record in the aerospace, defence, marine, central government, media and broadcast news sectors. The space sector is however the firm’s showcase industry: SCISYS has deep expertise in the areas of satellite operation, ground segment, and advanced technologies. The company for instance acts as one of the key IT-suppliers to Europe’s Galileo programme, while in Australia SCISYS recently won a deal that made it one of the first technology partners of the Cooperative Research Centre for Smart Satellite Technologies and Analytics – a group that is working on smart-satellite solutions. Other long-standing clients include Airbus, OHB System and Thales Alenia Space.
According to SCISYS’s latest financial year, 36% of the group’s revenues come from the Space division, and 34% from the Enterprise Solutions & Defence unit, with the rest coming from other sectors. The group posted £58.4 million in revenues for 2018, up 10% on the previous year, with its bulging order book at a record level of £98.6 million.
For CGI, the deal adds a significant footprint in the UK and Germany. The impact on the firm’s global headcount is negligible – CGI has over 77,000 consultants and professionals in 30+ countries, generating an annual turnover of £6.8 billion.
Last year, CGI in Germany acquired CKC, in a move that added 300 professionals to its headcount, and three months ago Acando was bolted-on, a Swedish business and technology consulting firm. In the past two years, the firm closed a total of nine deals.
The transaction still has to be agreed by SCISYS’ shareholders, however with the bid unanimously recommended by the Board of Directors of both companies no reservations are expected. Closing is expected to take place during the second half of 2019.
