Capgemini to acquire Australian cloud services provider for $233 million

Capgemini is set to acquire Australian cloud services provider Empired for AU$233 million (£125 million), in a move it says will strengthen the company’s capabilities in cloud and data across the region.

Empired has over 1000 professionals in Australia and New Zealand and provides end-to-end capabilities in cloud and data to provide digital transformation services to a variety of industries. The acquisition will also provide a “complementary geographic footprint” to Capgemini.

Capgemini stated that Empired would bring it the largest accredited Microsoft Dynamics team in Australia and New Zealand. It would also strengthen its client portfolio across key industries like mining, utilities, and government.

“Capgemini’s extensive transformation expertise combined with Empired’s strengths as a leader in Microsoft Azure and Dynamics 365 will open up the full power of digital transformation for our clients in Australia and New Zealand, to run their entire business in the cloud and realise value faster,” said Olaf Pietschner, CEO for Capgemini in Asia-Pacific and Group Executive Committee member.

Capgemini believes its “positive momentum” in Asia-Pacific, breadth of service offerings, and global scale will help Empired’s growing needs and expand career opportunities for its team members.

“Over the past 15 years Empired has been on a journey to build the most respected digital services company across Australia and New Zealand,” said Empired’s managing director, Russell Baskerville. “Our strategy has delivered material growth in shareholder value and we are confident that being part of Capgemini will help to accelerate our combined market position in the coming years.”

Capgemini already made investments in the APAC region earlier this year, with the acquisition of Australian SAP consulting specialist Acclimation earlier this month and data and cloud company RXP Solutions in March.

The total proposed consideration for the acquisition of 100% of the share capital of Empired would amount to $233 million, although this remains subject to certain conditions such as Empired shareholders’ approval, court approval and the granting of a New Zealand Overseas Investment Act direction order. The acquisition is expected to close in mid-November 2021.