ICT News South Africa

Wipro to acquire Appirio in R500m deal

Wipro Limited, an IT, consulting and business process services company, has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Appirio, a global cloud services company that creates next generation worker and customer experiences for a purchase consideration of $500m.
Abidali Neemuchwala, CEO and member of the board, Wipro Limited.
Abidali Neemuchwala, CEO and member of the board, Wipro Limited.

Established in 2006, Appirio is headquartered in Indianapolis with offices in San Francisco, Dublin, London, Jaipur, and Tokyo and has 1,250 employees worldwide. Appirio is a partner to some of the world’s big brands, including Stryker, Robert Half, Johnson Controls, Cardinal Health, Coca-Cola, eBay, Facebook, Home Depot, and Sony PlayStation.

Wipro believes its acquisition of Appirio will create one of the "world’s largest cloud transformation practices, a game changer in today’s as-a-service and digital economy". Appirio also brings to Wipro, Topcoder, a crowdsourcing marketplace connecting designers, developers and data scientists around the world with customers.

Unlocking transformational synergies

“In an increasingly digital world, as consumer behaviors and expectations continue to be reshaped by experiences, companies are recognising that they need to transform how they engage with customers and employees by leveraging the power of cloud. Appirio and Wipro are coming together to unlock transformational synergies in the applications space and help enterprises create new business models,” said Abidali Neemuchwala, chief executive officer and member of the board, Wipro Limited.

Wipro will consolidate its existing cloud applications practices of Salesforce and Workday under the Appirio brand and structure. Chris Barbin, chief executive officer of Appirio, will lead the expanded business.

“When you combine Wipro’s global scale and deep digital focus with Appirio’s transformative worker and customer experience expertise, and best in class team, brand, and partners, you create a formidable force in the industry,” said Barbin. “Together, our aim is to dominate the market and claim the top spots in industry Net Promoter Score, market share, and best places to work.”

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to be closed in the quarter ending 31 December, 2016. William Blair & Company acted as financial advisor to Appirio during the transaction.

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