OREANDA-NEWS. Tata Consultancy Services (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a leading IT services, consulting and business solutions firm completed the acquisition of ALTI SA during an official ceremony under the patronage of Arnaud Montebourg, minister for economic regeneration for the French Republic. The CEO and managing director for TCS, N Chandrasekaran, and ALTI’s founders signed the final agreement to commence the integration of ALTI into TCS’ operations in France. The acquisition had been initially announced in April 2013.

A privately-held company with revenues of € 126 million in 2012, ALTI SA is regarded as one of the top five system integrators of SAP solutions in France. It includes several top French corporations in the banking, financial services, luxury, manufacturing and utilities sectors as its key customers.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2012-13 classified France as one of the 35 countries which were considered stage 3 - “innovation-driven” economies, the highest level of development. It was ranked fourth worldwide in terms of Infrastructure and in the top 10 for its capacity of innovation. As per the European Commission’s Eurostat 2012 data, France also has one of the largest technology labour pools in Europe with 12.7 million human resources in science and technology (HRST).

This strategic investment by TCS will help leverage the strong engineering talent in the country for the benefit of its customers in France and other markets globally. During the official ceremony, TCS unveiled plans to further activate the capabilities and the talent pool it has acquired, by setting up a new TCS SAP Innovation Center. The centre will seek to develop cutting-edge enterprise solutions for multiple industries, in co-innovation with TCS’ customers. It will be located in the Île-de-France region and is expected to be operational by the end of 2013.

N Chandrasekaran, CEO and managing director, TCS, said, “Today is a historic day for our company in France, which will see us emerge as a much stronger player in the local market and which sets the platform for our future growth in the region. There are tremendous synergies between TCS’ global capabilities and ALTI’s local talent base and knowledge, which will enable us to better service our clients in France and help make their businesses more competitive. As a long term strategic market for TCS, with leading-edge infrastructure and a highly skilled engineering talent pool, France was a natural destination for us to invest in towards our future growth.”

Arnaud Montebourg, minister for economic regeneration of the French Republic said, “The important investments made by TCS in its two sites in France (Ile-de-France and Lille) since February 2013 are true testimonials to the capability of France to welcome and integrate companies from abroad that have installed themselves on our soil.”

TCS has been operating in France since 1992 and has significantly strengthened its position in the country through local hiring and investments in recent years. In recognition of these initiatives, the company had been conferred the special award for investment and innovation by the Greater Paris Investment Agency in 2012. This acquisition will increase the company’s employee base in France by 500 percent and propel it into the list of the top IT services firms in the country.