itelligence-group, a globally leading SAP consulting company within NTT DATA Group, is announcing that they reached an agreement to acquire a majority stake in FH S.A. (FH) to make its entry into the Brazilian SAP market. In line with the usual market rules and regulations, the closing of the transaction is conditional upon the receipt of regulatory approvals, including the approval by the Brazilian antitrust authorities (CADE), and satisfaction of other customary conditions. CADE's approval is expected to be granted within the next few weeks.
Founded in 1999, FH is one of Brazil's leading SAP consulting and development companies. Its SAP-based tax solution is in use by companies that together account for over 8% of Brazil's GDP. The company also has an excellent market position globally. FH is thus Latin America's leading vendor in the area of SAP's Customer Experience portfolio and has completed numerous successful SAP rollout projects in over 30 countries.
Norbert Rotter, CEO of itelligence AG: "For itelligence-group, a globally operating company with 26 subsidiaries of its own today, the acquisition of FH represents a strategic expansion into the Latin American market. We are gaining 700 SAP colleagues in 6 locations in Brazil, who will become part of a global team numbering 9,200. With FH's own IP, in conjunction with innovative SAP technologies, we will be well equipped to achieve further growth, both inside and outside Brazil."
With this acquisition, itelligence-group is expanding its presence in one of the currently strongest-growing economic regions in the world. According to IDC and Gartner, Brazil is the eighth largest IT market globally. It grew in 2018 by 9.8% and market analysts expect an above global average growth rate until 2024.
Due to increasingly stringent obligations regarding transparency and compliance, there is a high demand in Latin America's largest economy particularly for ERP software and financial management solutions. The two partners also see substantial growth potential in the areas of marketing, CRM, e-commerce, and for IoT (Internet of Things) solutions.
Ricardo Fachin, CEO of FH: "For over 20 years, we have built up know-how in various business processes in collaboration with our customers and developed software and service offerings to help people in companies engaged in various lines of business: manufacturing, agribusiness, retail, professional services, finance, and utilities. We make use of innovation in our efforts to simplify business processes for our customers. In 2018, we launched ECG, our cloud-based tax and e-invoicing software, and in 2019, we endowed our tax solution GUEPARDO with machine learning functionalities.
In this new phase, we shall make use of itelligence's know-how and global presence to strengthen our position in the Brazilian market and to expand our software and service offering. This will generate new opportunities, not only for the company but for our employees as well. We are now even better qualified to fulfil the needs of customers with international operations, and we are well placed to strengthen our position as one of the favorite strategic technology partners in Brazil."
The two parties have agreed to keep the purchase price confidential.
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