Sonata to buy 50% stake in Hanover co

IT consulting and software services firm Sonata Software announced on Wednesday it will acquire 50.1 per cent stake in Hanover-based TUI InfoTec in an all cash deal for euro18 million (about Rs 1.06 billion).

Sonata has signed an agreement with TUI AG, Europe's leading tourism and shipping group, for acquiring majority stake in its 100 per cent subsidiary, TUI InfoTec, with revenues of euro130 million and 432 employees, top executives of the two companies told a news conference in Bangalore.

TUI AG would continue to hold the balance 49.9 per cent stake in TUI InfoTec, which is the IT service provider for TUI AG and its subsidiaries in Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, Spain and other parts of Europe, they said.

The deal is subject to clearance from the German 'anti-trust' authorities, expected to happen in three or four weeks, Sonata Software President

and Managing Director B Ramaswamy said.

Post-deal, TUI InfoTec would remain preferred supplier to the TUI Group, which has revenues of around euro20 billion (about Rs 1,200 billion), he added.

Ramaswamy said Europe contributed 55 per cent of revenues for Sonata with a headcount of 1,700 and four development centres in India.

The deal includes TUI InfoTech's subsidiaries, Travel BA.sys and ACCON RVS which provide a technology platform and back-office services for travel agencies, respectively. Heinz Kreuzer, Group CIO of TUI and Managing Director of TUI InfoTec, said 44 per cent of the company's revenues in 2005 were contributed by software services and 56 per cent by IT Infrastructure Management.

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