Monday 5 March 2012

NOTE: B&D to be Acquired by Sopra

One of the UK's largest independant providers of SAS skills, Business & Decision UK, is to be acquired by the Sopra Group. Jointly announced with the same press release (B&D, Sopra) on the 13th February, the transaction is expected to be completed in the next few weeks, subject to regulatory conditions.

You may be able to remember SPS, one of the very first UK-based SAS consultancies, established by Peter Bailey. B&D, headquartered in France, acquired SPS some time ago. Whilst the likes of Amadeus and Base3 continue to provide focused SAS services in the UK, it seems that the trend is towards larger suppliers with a broader base of technology and integration skills. What do you think?

Sopra Group is also headquartered in France. It's results for 2011 show revenue of 1bn euros, 13,000 staff and a focus on IT services and software development.