Financial software firm FIS has signed a deal to buy technology consultancy Capco for at least $292 million, the companies saidTuesday.
Under the terms of the agreement, set to close by the end of the year, FIS will buy out Capco’s majority shareholder, Symphony Technology Group. The Palo Alto-based private equity fund still owns a majority stake in Netik, a New York and London-based data warehouse vendor which used funding from STG in February to acquire Capco’s reference data services unit.
Capco. a global business and technology consultancy dedicated to the financial services industry, has over 1000 employees in offices throughout Europe, North America and India. It is expected to make around $225 million in revenues this year – over half of which will be from non-U.S. operations -- and wanted to increase revenues to $1 billion within the next few years. Because Capco’s management didn’t believe STG could provide sufficient funding it shopped around for a new parent and negotiated the deal with FIS, says a spokesman for Capco in London.
In a statement, FIS says the acquisition expands its international footprint with services covering banking, capital markets, wealth and investment management, finance, risk and compliance and technology. FIS will further elaborate its strategy in a conference call on October 26.
Capco founder and chief executive officer Rob Heyvaert will continue to lead the business, reporting to FIS’ President and CEO, Frank Martire and also becomes a corporate executive vice president of the parent. The rest of the Capco management team will stay in place.
“Combining Capco's collaborative consulting services with FIS' industry leading core banking and payments solution suite will enable both organizations to better leverage our individual strengths while providing our respective clients with a unique blend of market expertise, technology solutions and strategic support,” says Heyvaert in a statement.
Earlier this year FIS was itself a takeover target, with a group of private equity firms eyeing a $15 billion leveraged buyout. However, talks broke down, prompting FIS to start a leveraged recapitalization with a share repurchase.
