Origin BV, the company formed when Philips Electronics NV upped its stake to 80% from 41% in BSO/Origin BV (CI No 2,821), said consultancy Price Waterhouse will take a minority interest in Origin to strengthen the relationship between the two and their drive for globalization. The two companies formed a strategic alliance earlier in the year to market and deliver third party software, systems integration and management consultancy, and Origin says the shareholding will simply cement this alliance. Origin says the two are highly complementary, with Price Waterhouse’s skills in business process re-engineering and Origins enterprise resource planning systems and its facilities management capabilities. The companies have not said what stake Price Waterhouse will take, and are not disclosing any further details at the moment. The deal is due to close by December 31 this year, about the same time as the Price Waterhouse/Coopers & Lybrand merger, announced last month (CI No 3,250). If both deals go ahead, Origin says the combined consulting resources of the three companies will be close to 40,000 consultants worldwide.
