CA increases stake in services

Computer Associates (CA) has purchased US consultancy LDA Systems, as the software giant continues its push into the services market.

Based in Cleveland, Ohio, LDA will become part of CA's Global Professional Services (GPS) division, with all 300 of its employees transferring to GPS. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Jacques Reboul, European senior vice president of GPS, said the arm was also hoping to complete the purchase of a UK services company by the end of this year and is in due diligence process with four European services companies.

LDA specialises in Lotus Notes, data warehousing and e-commerce services for midrange platforms. CA said LDA has a strong client base in manufacturing, banking, government, transportation and communications, which are all strong markets for CA's products.

'LDA is a tremendous match for us,' said Chris Wagner, GPS executive vice president. 'Acquiring LDA makes it clear to our clients that we are doing everything possible to support their information technology objectives.'

Earlier this year, CA lost a highly public battle to take over services giant Computer Sciences. Since then, the company has focused on smaller acquisitions.