Argus Environemental
Regent Assay advised on the sale of owner managed Argus Environmental to RSK Group plc, one of the largest privately owned environmental consultancies in the UK.
Set up by Rob Arthur, Argus has its head office in Birmingham and is one of the UK’s leading landfill monitoring specialists. Operating in a compliance and regulatory driven environment Argus is a key service provider to almost all of the top ten waste disposal companies in the UK and also many local authorities.
Rob will continue to run the business on behalf of RSK and we wish them both well for the future.
Patni
Patni Computer Systems Ltd. (NYSE: PTI), a leading global IT services provider announced the acquisition of Europe-based Logan-Orviss International (LOI), a leading independent specialist telecommunications consulting services company. The consideration includes an upfront cash payment on completion of the transaction as well as performance-linked incentive payments on achieving financial targets over a three year period. LOI ended a profitable year with revenues of Euro 11.8 Million in 2006. The acquisition strengthens Patni’s capability in communications and media practice providing operators thought leadership and operational transformation consulting for mission critical IT initiatives.
Logan-Orviss International will become Patni’s Telecommunications Consulting & Advisory practice, and will be led by Brendan Logan and Colin Orviss, the firm’s co-founders. Commenting on the acquisition, Neeraj Gupta, Executive Vice President, Patni said, “The LOI acquisition underscores our commitment to global telecommunications and media customers. With this, Patni adds further depth to our pool of telecoms specialists enabling us to provide the best of world-class consulting and global delivery.”
Brendan Logan and Colin Orviss, Co-Founders, Logan-Orviss International, said, “The next generation communications and media service companies will be very different than today. The team of specialists at LOI along with Patni can enable their rapid transformation to developing new revenue streams, next generation architectures and the best customer experience.”
“This is the age of multi-media content and IPTV,” remarked Keith Willetts, Chairman and CEO of the TM Forum. “Communications providers do not always have the expertise in house to transform their business to address new opportunities or the experience with new information systems architectures and implementation approaches to facilitate a rapid change. The combination of Logan Orviss and Patni skills highlights the growing industry trend of mergers to better serve this important and growing market.”
“This strategic acquisition is designed to offer holistic, multi-level business transformation services to media and communications companies,” said Camille Mendler, European research Vice President at Yankee Group.
“Patni’s IT services portfolio coupled with LOI’s deep industry and consulting know-how are a strong combination.”
Mantix
Multi-discplinary group Atkins has bought Mantix Group, a specialist programme management consultancy, for £8.75m in cash. Mantix specialises in helping clients make major investments in technology and business change. Its clients include central government departments.
The acquisition of the 60-strong firm came as Atkins posted overall pre-tax profits of £72m on turnover of £1.4bn for the year to 31 March. The firm's managment and project service arm, which includes Faithful + Gould, saw turnover rise 13% to £171m and operating profit jump 50% to £13.9m.
In a statement the company said F+G had an "excellent year" with improved margins due to more selective bidding and imporoved utilisation of staff. It added that prospects for the division were good, including new opportunities for redeveloped train stations, consultancy on expansions of regional airports and health and education work.