BT buys two German IT companies

BT is to buy two German IT companies, the telecommunications and IT giant announced on Thursday.

The companies, Stemmer and SND, formed the enterprise IT services section of the software distribution firm, net AG, and have combined gross assets of €9.7m (£7.7m). Both companies have headquarters in Olching, near Munich, and offer services such as unified communications, IP telephony, network integration, security, storage and video surveillance.

"This acquisition will add complementary skills and capabilities to our existing portfolio. Stemmer and SND have an excellent reputation in the IT-services area," said the chief executive of BT Global Services, François Barrault, on Thursday. "This transaction will complement BT's strengths in the German market and we will be able to offer our customers an even broader portfolio of end-to-end networked IT services."

Stemmer and SND's chief executive, Günther Haag, said the deal was "great news" for his customers and "a great opportunity for [the companies'] employees as [the companies] are joining a leading German provider for global network and IT services".