Wipro splashes US$52.5M on European acquisition

Indian outsourcing company Wipro is targeting the global retail sector with the €41 million (US$52.2 million) acquisition of Portuguese IT company Enabler.

Enabler was spun out of the internal IT department of Portugal's leading retail company Modelo Continente in 1997 and now provides retail consulting and integration services, mainly around Oracle products.

The company has more than 300 staff and customers in Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, the Middle East, Spain and the UK and had revenues of €30 million (US$38.4 million) last year.

Sudip Nandy, chief strategy officer at Wipro, said the acquisition further expands the Indian company's geographic footprint and is part of a plan to build up expertise in different vertical industry sectors.

The acquisition is expected to be completed within a month.

Just last month a market report said the number of overseas acquisitions made by Indian IT companies has risen sharply in the last four years and is set to increase further over the next 12 months.

But there is also a trend for the acquisition of Indian companies by western companies, as witnessed by EDS' US$380 million offer for a majority stake in Bangalore-based business process outsourcing outfit Mphasis earlier this year.

Andy McCue of Silicon.com reported from London.