Persistent Systems to Acquire French Software Business from Agilent Technologies
Pune, India – May 31, 2011: Persistent Systems (BSE & NSE: PERSISTENT), a leader in outsourced software product development (OPD) services, today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to acquire Agilent Technologies’ software marketing and development business based in Grenoble, France. Subject to customary closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to be final by August 1, 2011.
Persistent Systems’ acquisition of Agilent’s software marketing and development business in Grenoble will contribute to the Company’s strategic thrust in the life sciences and healthcare markets. The Agilent business is presently focused on supplying data acquisition and control software for scientific instruments to the life sciences, environmental, energy, applied research and other markets. The efforts of this business will further bolster Persistent’s growing life sciences domain expertise, which includes more than 40 life sciences domain experts and more than 500 software professionals working on services supporting laboratory instrumentation, bioinformatics and chemical informatics projects for leading companies in the Life Sciences and Healthcare markets. With this acquisition, Persistent’s Life Sciences and Healthcare team will be further strengthened with the addition of Agilent’s highly experienced team in Grenoble.
“Agilent and Persistent have had a strong business relationship for more than 10 years,” said Bruce von Herrmann, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s Software & Informatics Business within its Life Sciences Group. “As Persistent becomes a global player in Life Sciences, incorporating the Grenoble team will provide Persistent with a presence in Europe, while their growth plans will provide new entrepreneurial opportunities for this talented team.”
“We are very excited about acquiring Agilent’s software marketing and development business in Grenoble”, said Dr. Anand Deshpande, Chairman and Managing Director, Persistent Systems. “Persistent has a decade long experience in the life sciences and healthcare business domain and this acquisition will further strengthen the Company’s position in this market. The analytical space in life science domain holds great promise and through our Life Sciences Center of Excellence in Europe we strongly plan to leverage this area.”
Upon the completion of this transaction Persistent will establish a Life Sciences Center of Excellence (CoE) in Grenoble, France for the purpose of expanding into the European market. The new CoE will leverage Persistent’s expertise in the areas of life sciences and software development to bring in new solutions and services to these important markets. The new CoE will also provide Persistent an important platform to better leverage its corporate technology position in areas like Cloud, Analytics, Mobility and Collaboration.
Over the years the life sciences and healthcare business unit at Persistent Systems has effectively combined science and information technology to provide solutions to industry leaders in biotechnology, premier cancer research institutes, medical centers and pharmaceutical companies. By leveraging the life science teams core domain knowledge, focus on software technology and in-depth understanding of various regulatory compliance requirements for FDA and CE-IVD standards, Persistent has successfully provided innovative solutions for life sciences and healthcare industry.
About Persistent Systems:
Established in 1990, Persistent Systems (BSE & NSE: PERSISTENT) is recognized as an award-winning technology company specializing in software product development services. With 6,300 employees, innovative business models, and reusable assets and frameworks, Persistent helps customers increase revenues and margins, and enhance brand value. Persistent Systems has delivered over 3,000 software product releases in their last five years and has 300 customers. The company has developed proven processes for the entire product lifecycle which reduce time-to- market while delivering consistent quality and customer satisfaction – as evidenced by customer partnerships that span many years. For more information, please visit: www.persistentsys.com
About Agilent Technologies:
Agilent Technologies Inc. is the world’s premier measurement company and a technology leader in chemical analysis, life sciences, electronics and communications. The company’s 18,500 employees serve customers in more than 100 countries. Agilent had net revenues of $5.4 billion in fiscal 2010.
