Logica Plc, the London-based IT consultancy, will acquire an electronic retail banking suite to expand into home, telephone and internet banking and bank automation software. The company will pay 8m pounds for the Quaestor suite of products from Bangalore, India-based software house Synectics Group. Up to an additional 22m pounds will be paid in cash by September 30, 2000, depending on the profitability of Quaestor over the next two fiscal years. Under the terms of the deal, Logica, which has 6,500 staff on the payroll will inherit 75 development engineers, who will remain in India. In time, the company hopes to add more staff and consolidate other operations into the Bangalore operation. Retail banking is an area Logica has been increasingly active in, according to company spokesperson Royston Hoggarth. It will target Quaestor’s branch automation software capabilities at relatively immature banking players, while it will pitch the Indian company’s suite of home, telephone and internet banking applications at more established financial organizations. Hoggarth says Logica will aim its new offering at financial organizations primarily based in Europe, the Middle East and the Far East, but will largely steer clear of the US market. Logica will install systems for new customers, as well as provide the support facilities. This latest venture will push Logica in to deeper competition with Misys Plc, the UK financial software house, which has recently became the first IT company to move into the blue chip Financial Times 100 share index (CI No 3,416). At the beginning of last month, Logica paid 3.7m pounds for Delog Conseil SA, a Paris-based specialized IT consulting firm (CI No 3,422) and in February reported net profits for the six months to December 31 up 54% at 11.1m pounds on revenue that rose 46% to 216.3m pounds (CI No 3,357).
