T-Systems SA has finally acquired Arivia.kom from Transnet and Eskom, two years after the state-owned IT company was put on the chopping block. The company confirmed on Thursday that it had signed the deal.
The German-owned T-Systems will acquire 100% of the shareholding in Arivia.kom while simultaneously taking over the IT service contracts for both Eskom and Transnet for a contract period of five years. Eskom and Transnet are arivia.kom’s largest customers.
“The agreement comes after a rigorous and extensive selection process which examined tenders from a number of leading IT companies,” T-Systems says in a statement. “The contract, which starts in January 2010, will deliver substantial cost and business efficiencies to the state-owned enterprises through economies of scale and the transfer of core processing and support activities required to run Eskom and Transnet’s IT environments.”
The deal has been financed by T-Systems SA’s principal, Deutsche Telekom.
In addition to the Eskom and Transnet accounts, T-Systems will take on other Arivia.kom customer accounts, including Airports Company SA, the State IT Agency and the department of water & environmental affairs.
T-Systems SA MD Mardia van der Walt-Korsten, pictured, says the impact of the integration of the two businesses will be managed in such a way that “we do not have a negative influence on any of our current or new customers’ service deliveries”. — Staff reporter, TechCentral