The target operation, Siemens Product Related Services, PRS, pools together some 5,000 employees and made revenue of around 1.3bn euros ($1.5bn) in the year ending September 30, 2005. The operation is active in 28 countries, with 2,000 of the workforce based in Germany.
The deal had been expected for several months. In July, Siemens chief Klaus Kleinfeld said it was looking for a buyer for the arm. Kleinfeld refused to rule out the possibility of selling further parts of the SBS operation, but said SBS remains very important to Siemens because SBS operates the majority of its parent company’s IT infrastructure.
Paris, France-based services vendor Atos Origin SA has been named by various press sources as a potential suitor for SBS in the last six months. SBS reported an operating loss of 427m euros ($499m) on revenue of 1.5bn euros ($1.75bn) in the fourth quarter ending September 2005.
Kleinfeld the sale of the PRS arm will mean a one-off gain during its second fiscal quarter ending March 2006. The deal will be effective from April 1, 2006.
Fujitsu Siemens, a PC and server manufacturing joint venture between the Japanese and German technology giants, said PRS would now form the hub of a new division called Fujitsu Siemens Computers IT Services. The operation will provide multi-vendor IT infrastructure support services including migration, consolidation, and lifecycle management.
