Swedish IT consultancy Linne Group AB has reached an agreement with a competitor, Cell Consulting Group AB, on a merger, forming one of the largest firms in its sector in Scandinavia.
The enlarged company, which starts out with a staff of 500 people in four cities (Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo and Oslo) will be focusing primarily on the internet, digital TV and wireless internet. Its customer list includes Nokia, Toshiba, Peugeot, Volvo, Saab and Ericsson.
Though both are Swedish companies, Norwegian national telecoms carrier Telenor AS is the majority shareholder in Linne via its investment arm Telenor Venture AS, and will continue to hold a significant stake in the merged entity. Linne is quoted on the main board of the Stockholm stock exchange.
As for Cell, its main shareholder is Ledstiernan Partners, an investment group whose chairman, Jan Carlzon, said the enlarged company not only wants to be Scandinavia’s largest player in new media, but also intends to undertake expansion to other parts of Europe.
This is the latest in a series of mergers and acquisitions in Sweden’s active internet consultancy market. Earlier this year NetSolutions Sweden AB and Framtidsfabriken AB reached an agreement to merge, with plans for an IPO before the end of the year (CI No 3,647).
Meanwhile another competitor, Icon Medialab International AB, has been on the acquisition trail this year, buying consultancy firms in France(Web Concept), Italy (I.com) and, at the beginning of this month, in the UK (IN.Form).
