The move by the country’s largest public company had been expected. It will pay NZD 62.5m ($38.9m) for Gen-i, which specializes in network and desktop management, systems integration and application development, and captured a NZD 50m ($30.6m), four-year outsourcing deal with insurance company IAG New Zealand last year.
Prior to the deal, IDC ranked Advanced Solutions as the second largest IT/network service provider in New Zealand behind EDS Corp, and ahead of Gen-i whose NZD 150m ($92m) revenue ranked it as the seventh largest player. The deal will allow Advanced Solutions to leapfrog EDS.
M&A activity is accelerating in Australia and New Zealand, as local vendors look to gain the mass they need to compete against larger, international rivals which have been attracted to the region’s outsourcing potential. In March, IBM acquired the New Zealand and Australian operations of network integrator Logicalis for NZD 101m ($62m), and in the largest deal announced in recent months, Telstra is in the process of acquiring Australia’s largest indigenous IT services vendor Kaz Group for AUD 333m ($255m).
