AT&T Co’s primary UK vehicle, AT&T Istel Ltd, has made its first acquisition outside the UK, paying an undisclosed sum for Infoplan GmbH, a Cologne-based systems house with annual turnover of UKP9m and a payroll of 150 people. It was established in 1979 and its main areas of activity are computer-integrated manufacturing, production planning and control, facilities management, networking for personal computers, computer consultancy, and software development for large IBM mainframes. As the former systems integration arm of British Leyland, Istel is of course primarily focussed on manufacturing, and will be looking to energise a German company that, judging from its small turnover and very wide range of activities, gives the impression that it has been run as a cottage industry. The move is intended to further AT&T Istel’s mission to grow to become one of the top three computer services companies in Europe, although even with UKP130m annual turnover and over 2,300 employees, it has a very long way to go to get within shouting distance of runway market leader Cap Gemini Sogeti SA. It says it is scouring the continent for companies capable of rapid, profitable growth and the right profile.
