Storage giant EMC has made a £42m offer to acquire UK-based consultancy Conchango, extending its European services capabilities.

The surprise announcement comes just months after Conchango has floated on AIM. At the time, it had said it intended to use its floatation windfall to fund its own acquisitions.

The offer of 23.1 pence per share represents a 44 per cent premium on Conchango's pre-announcement price. It has already been accepted by 80% of Conchango's shareholders and approved by its board, making the deal highly likely to proceed.

"The addition of Conchango will mark another key milestone in the evolution of EMC’s rapidly growing consulting services organization, significantly expanding our global capabilities to design, build and deliver tightly integrated solutions for our customers’ most critical business applications," said Howard Elias, president of EMC's global services group.

Conchango has a large Microsoft application consulting practice and includes Tesco, Virgin Atlantic and Sky among its customers.