BT has agreed to pay SGD 202m ($139.7m) for Frontline, representing a 34% premium on the target’s average share price over the last month. The acquisition will be BT’s biggest in the services sector in 2007, topping the $100m it paid in October for French consulting company Net2S.
Frontline provides consulting services around applications and infrastructure, as well as systems integration and infrastructure, application and business process management. In the year to the end of March 2007, the company made a net profit of SGD 12.1m ($8.3m) on revenue of SGD 200.5m ($138.6m), up 18.8% on the previous year.
Alongside its headquarters in Singapore, Frontline has offices in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, China, Taiwan, and India. The company’s Indian operation is run as a joint venture with Accel ICIM Systems & Services. Frontline currently has a 42% stake in the JV, known as Accel Frontline, but it will increase this holding to 51% once the deal with BT is completed.
Frontline will be the ninth IT services company acquired by BT this year. Along with the previously mentioned Net2S, the company has picked up UK-based mid-market players Lynx Technology and Basilica Computing, Belgium’s INS Group, Latin American network services vendor Comsat International, Indian provider i2i Enterprise, International Network Services, and the infrastructure services division of CS Communication & Systemes.
