Storebrand ASA: Storebrand and Cognizant enter into strategic partnership
Storebrand has today entered into a long term strategic partnership agreement with Cognizant. The first stage of the partnership includes business processes and IT development delivered by Storebrand Baltic today. Furthermore, Storebrand has identified potential in the partnership to further leverage the innovation and digitization of the Group's services that will enable more efficient processes and IT solutions. This will provide better and more innovative solutions for customers and cost reductions for the Group.
– We are very pleased to enter into this partnership. We aim to be at the forefront of delivering robust digital solutions to our customers while automating and driving efficiencies in our internal processes. Cognizant is a global leader in consulting, technology and business process services, and through this agreement we will take innovation and digitization of our business to a new level, says CEO of Storebrand Odd Arild Grefstad.
– We are pleased to partner with Storebrand. This partnership underlines the importance that Europe, and in particular the Nordic region, has as a growth market for industry-aligned business processes and IT services," said Gordon Coburn, President of Cognizant. "We will bring our global best-in-class technology and business process capabilities to Storebrand and enable the company to address its dual mandate of enabling cost efficiencies while driving innovation at scale. This relationship will further strengthen our network of delivery and operations centers supporting our Nordic and broader European clients."
As part of the agreement, Storebrand Group will sell 66 per cent of the shares in the Group’s shared service center, Storebrand Baltic UAB in Lithuania. It is expected that this part of the agreement will give a positive result effect of around NOK 50 million in Q1 2016, depending on the closing date.
The agreement is subject to regulatory approval from Finanstilsynet (Norwegian FSA).
About Storebrand Baltic UAB:
Storebrand Baltic is Storebrand's service center in Vilnius, Lithuania. The company was established in 2007 and currently has 370 employees. Storebrand Baltic performs back-office, service tasks and IT-services for the Storebrand Group.
About Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, dedicated to helping the world’s leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep industry and business process expertise, and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of work. With over 100 development and delivery centers worldwide and approximately 219,300 employees as of September 30, 2015, Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top performing and fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: Cognizant.
Lysaker, 6. November 2015
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