Capgemini acquires Kanbay Inc by paying a price of USD 1.25 billion

Mumbai, Oct 26 (UNI) Capgimini, one of the world's foremost providers of consulting, outsourcing and technology services, and Kanbay have entered into a definitive agreement whereby Capgemini will be acquiring Kanbay Inc (a Nasdaq listed firm) for USD 29 per share in cash by paying it a sum of USD 1.25 billion.

Briefing the media about the deal here this evening, CEO of Capgemini India, Baru S Rao, said, ''The merger will help my company in three ways, which includes strengthening of our FSI (Financial Services Index), spreading our base in the US where Kanbay has a good presence and finally it will help us increase our headcount from present level of 12,000 worldwide to 35,000 by next year.'' Talking about the deal, Kanbay India MD Cyprian D' Souza said, ''We are holding our shareholders meeting by year-end to convince them that the deal is an attractive one.'' Once the deal is over, the CEO of Kanbay, Raymond Spencer will join the executive committee of Capegemini and will be responsible for the financial services of the company, he added.

The deal represents a premium of 15.9 per cent to Kanbay's closing share price as registered on Nasdaq on October 25 and 28.3 per cent to the average price during the month prior to the announcement, he added.

In addition, Capgemini, which is in its expansion mode, has entered into share purchase agreement to acquire 14.9 per cent of Kanbay's outstanding shares from certain core shareholders. Not to mention that Capgemini had acquired Indigo early this month.

UNI KKD KU SKB1936