Acando acquires the Norwegian IT company Abeo, and thereby grows within Europe
Acando AB has signed an agreement for the purchase of all shares in the Norwegian IT consultancy company Abeo. The acquisition implies that Acando becomes established in Norway and strengthens its position as a leading IT and management consulting company in Northern Europe.
Abeo AS employs 85 people with experience and knowledge within strategy, project management, architecture, integration and systems development. Abeo's forecasted sales for 2007 are NOK 100 million, with good profitability.
"We are proud and pleased to be able to present Abeo as Acando's consultants in Norway. The acquisition is a natural step towards our goal to offer IT and management services to companies in Northern Europe. With the acquisition of Abeo, we obtain a stable position in the Norwegian market and many fine customers. We now cover the overall Scandinavian market, and with our international consultancy team offer a comprehensive alternative to companies active in the Nordic region," says Lars Wollung, CEO of Acando AB.
Abeo has offices in Oslo and Trondheim and is market leader within the healthcare sector in Norway. The Acando Group thereby directly obtains a solid experience-bank from assignments within this sector, which can now be further developed. Abeo also holds a strong position within the public sector, banking and finance. The customer database also includes Norwegian private clients such as Lindbak, Thales and Vetco.
"With its size, geographic presence and culture, Abeo AS is a company that suits Acando strategically extremely well. Its activities are similar to and supplement Acando's, and we see considerable opportunities to develop our offer and customers," says Christer Norrman, Group Vice President and responsible for Acando’s international operations.
"Abeo is very positive about becoming part of the Acando Group and to thereby broaden the offer to our Norwegian customers with ERP solutions from Microsoft and SAP. We will be able to supply large projects through existing international resources, such as by near-shoring systems development to Acando's subsidiary Webmedia in the Baltic Region," says Aasmund Frøseth, CEO of Abeo AS.
Abeo will continue to work as an individual company with its current management team, and with Aasmund Frøseth as CEO.
An initial purchase price of NOK 49 million will be paid for Abeo AS. The balance sheet contains cash and cash equivalents for approximately NOK 26 million. Furthermore, there is an additional purchase (earn-out) consideration spread over the next two years. The addition consideration is based entirely on profits and is anticipated to give NOK 40-50 million provided the Norwegian operations achieve good growth.