Thales Information Systems has acquired privately-held London-based financial IT consultancy CWB.
CWB, which will trade as Thales IS Financial from 1 July, was founded in 1994 and, last year, generated revenues of Eur26 million. The company, which has 145 employees, is focused purely on financial services and offers a broad range of consultancy and IT outsourcing services from strategy through to project management, implementation and the provision of IT software and systems.
The acquisition significantly strengthens Thales IS’ presence in the UK (with 350 employees) and its finance business in Europe. Combining external and organic growth, the financial sector business area today accounts for 21 per cent of Thales IS revenues, generating yearly business worth Eur92 million in Europe with a total of 800 employees.
Jean-Paul Lepeytre, CEO of Thales IS says: "The financial sector in Europe is going through a period of significant change, creating further demand for IT consultants with in-depth knowledge of this sector. Our acquisition of CWB combined with our existing international expertise in systems integration, consultancy and outsourcing enables us to be a strong European partner providing a full portfolio of IT services to financial services companies."