Wipro to acquire Ampion for $117 mn

New Delhi: IT services major Wipro on Thursday said it will acquire Ampion, an Australia-based provider of cyber security, DevOps and quality engineering services for USD 117 million (about Rs 857 crore).

The acquisition of Ampion is an important step for Wipro in this direction, and strengthens the commitment towards clients and stakeholders in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), Wipro said in a regulatory filing. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the quarter ending June 30, 2021, it added. "The purchase consideration is $117 million (1 AUD=$0.78)," the filing said. Ampion was formed through the merger of IT services providers 'Revolution IT' and 'Shelde'. Revolution IT was an IT services company in Australia founded in 2004 and Shelde was a digital IT security company founded in 2010 in Australia.

The merged entity, Ampion is headquartered in Melbourne, with offices in Sydney, Brisbane, and a zone 3 facility in Canberra. Annual revenues run rate of Ampion for the year ending June 30, 2020 was $85.5 million, of which about 12 per cent was related to products sale. The Australian market is undergoing significant disruption through the adoption of cloud, DevOps, analytics and resilience related digital capabilities, across enterprises and public sector entities, the filing said. Wipro and Ampion's combined offerings, powered by engineering transformation, DevOps and security consulting services will bring scale and market agility to respond to the growing demands of customers, it added. Last month, Wipro had announced it will acquire London-headquartered Capco, a global management and technology consultancy, in a $1.45 billion (over Rs 10,500 crore) deal - its biggest acquisition till date. Wipro's new operating model emphasises strategic investments in focus geographies, proximity to customers, agility, scale and localisation.

Wipro has been present in the ANZ market for over two decades with deep client relationships across industry sectors and localised domain and delivery capabilities. "I am excited to welcome Ampion to the Wipro family. Ampion has a successful track record and enjoys immense credibility with leading enterprises in the region, a collaborative work culture, and significant local subject matter expertise. We see Ampion as a complementary force that will help us expand our footprint and accelerate our journey in the Asia Pacific region," Wipro CEO – APMEA NS Bala said. Jamie Duffield, CEO of Ampion, said the company's clients, employees and the entire market ecosystem will tremendously benefit from the synergies of Ampion and Wipro's combined portfolio of transformation offerings.