Persistent Systems Ltd (PSL) has signed an agreement to acquire Agilent Technologies' software marketing and development business unit based in Grenoble, France.
The acquisition is expected to be final by August 1, after which the unit will be called Persistent Systems, France.
Declining to reveal the price of the deal at this stage, Dr Anand Deshpande, Chairman and Managing Director, PSL said the acquisition will contribute to Persistent's thrust in the life sciences and healthcare markets and also give it a presence in Europe.
Around 30 domain experts from Agilent will come on board once the transaction is completed and more may be added, he said.
The Agilent business is now focused on supplying data acquisition and control software for scientific instruments to the life sciences, environmental, energy, applied research and other markets. Currently, PSL's Life Sciences business contributes 10-12 per cent to its topline and was worth $20 million in FY 2011.
The team here includes over 40 domain experts and more than 500 software professionals working on services supporting laboratory instrumentation, bioinformatics and chemical informatics projects for leading companies.
Centre of excellence
To leverage the life sciences business, Persistent plans to set up a Life Sciences Centre of Excellence in Grenoble to expand into the European market. While bringing in new solutions and services to these, the centre will also provide it a platform to leverage its corporate technology position in areas such as cloud, analytics, mobility and collaboration.
“We will also look at the life sciences business in India,” Dr Deshpande said.