Hier het zelfde maar dan in een andere versie
DUBAI -- An international consortium led by Europe-based Atlantic Bridge Ventures and the US industrial holding group, Access Industries, has acquired the telecom product units of UK's LogicaCMG for $525 million (£265 million) and named it Acision.
Jasper Weijman, vice-president for sales, Acision, said the acquisition, which was announced on February 28, was formally sealed on June 18 after less than a year of negotiations. He added that Acision was launched with over 300 corporate clients serving more than one billion customers worldwide.
This means that Acision now leads the global market with its creativity and innovation in mobile data services including intuitive messaging, intelligent charging, content enabling, and customer intelligence management.
"We want to be No.1 in the messaging service," said Nabil Khalil, managing director, Acision, Middle East and North Africa (MENA). "Acision's presence in MENA reflects our continuous commitment to the region's service providers and the telecom industry. Although our name has changed...we remain dedicated to delivering superior solutions and to supporting our regional customers with the best resources and expertise."
Weijman said close to 1,800 employees left LogicaCMG, a global telecom, IT and management consultancy firm, for Acision, which has offices in 22 countries across six continents. Acision's main headquarter is in Redding, UK while its MENA headquarter is at the Dubai Internet City.
He added that the 43-year-old LogicaCMG, which now has 40,000 people, is a global player in system integration in IT projects involving banking, government, industry, energy and utility, among others. Atlantic Bridge is a venture capital firm with offices in Dublin and London while Access is a leader in advancing mobile technology in the US Mid South.
In a statement, Chris McDermott, CEO of Acision, said the company has the advantage of attracting investors with deep market knowledge and long-term business focus.
"We already lead the market with our products and innovation...." he said. "Our local expertise and global experience, teamed with new investment, put us in a great position to achieve our goal of providing solutions that make our clients successful."
Acision's past achievements include the pioneering short messaging service (SMS) on mobile phones through its global software platform. It processes half of the world's text and multimedia messages daily, and serves three out of four videomail users globally.
Khalil said the company also monetises over $100 billion for network operators and service providers through its content and messaging payment systems, and has served the most successful MENA telecom operators for more than 10 years.
He added, however, that the company's most famous service is perhaps its having the US TV show American Idol to interact with a record breaking 60 million viewers, who vote for their singing idols by sending text messages through their mobile phones.
BY JOSE FRANCO