Belgacom sells Telindus to UK comms specialist
Telent extends reach with takeover of infrastructure services provider
Networking, security, datacentre and infrastructure services specialist Telindus UK is being sold to UK telecoms specialist Telent, boosting the latter's IT capability through its partnerships with vendors like Cisco and Juniper.
The value of the deal with Telindus UK's Brussels-based owner Belgacom was not disclosed, but it is expected to complete within the next few weeks.
Marek Lowther, managing director of Telindus UK, said that the deal presents a chance to address a wider market.
"Becoming part of the Telent group is an exciting new step for us and will significantly expand our sphere of activity, while contributing our expertise to Telent's overall offering," he said. "The combination with Telent will provide us with additional scale to address the UK market."
Mark Plato, chief executive officer of Warwick-headquartered Telent, confirmed that the acquisition boosts its IT and IP networking capabilities, which are "increasingly important".
"We have been investing in growing our capability in IP networking and in the delivery of end-to-end IT solutions for some time now. Acquiring Telindus UK takes us to another level, providing a step-change in our core expertise and capabilities with key industry partners and introducing us to a range of new customers and markets," Plato said.
Under the agreement, Telent will retain Telindus UK's base in Camberley, Surrey, which has a lab for the development and testing of customer networks. "This will complement Telent's existing research and development facilities in Warwick and London," it said in its announcement.
Telindus UK turns over some £45m a year, with enterprise and public sector customers including the defence sector and other services providers including Virgin Media – already a customer of Telent's – and Interroute.
Telent, a £300m-a-year firm with 1,500 staff, has been on the acquisition trail for some time. This year it bought voice processing and comms specialist Voice Perfect, and swallowed a quarter of IT security and information assurance provider CNS Group.
Customers include BT, Sky, Vodafone, the Met, Transport for London and Network Rail.
Telindus UK chose Telent back in 2011 to provide its field engineering and maintenance services across the UK.
Parent company Telindus, founded in Heverlee, Belgium in 1969 by John Cordier, was bought out by Belgacom in 2006, which two years later halved the number of country offices. In 2010, Belgacom absorbed all Telindus operations into itself, although overseas arms kept that name and brand.
Telindus Spain and Ireland were sold in 2011, and Telindus France earlier this year -- meaning Belgacom's Telindus IT services arm now has only the three Benelux offices.
Privately-owned Telent was formed in the UK in 2006 from the UK and German remnants of General Electric/Marconi Corporation; the rest having been bought by Swedish comms giant Ericsson. It has six office locations across the UK.