Cognizant Technology Solutions has acquired ValueSource, a subsidiary of KBC Group, a Belgium-based multi-channel bank insurance group.
About 170 employees of ValueSource will be transferred to Cognizant. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
ValueSource’s experience in the financial services and insurance domain will provide business continuity for KBC as it will continue to work for KBC, according to a press release issued by Cognizant, a US-based software company with large presence in India.
Transfer of captive unit is for business continuity and leveraging global delivery capabilities that Cognizant can bring. It is mainly for capability and not capacity, said a company official.
Today’s announcement comes a day after Cognizant acquired the French company Equinox.
The ValueSource acquisition is the latest in Cognizant’s acquisition of captive units of large groups to strengthen its own capability.
In the past, Cognizant struck such deals with companies such as UBS and ING wherein it acquired their captive units as part of the respective relationships.
Cognizant’s acquisition strategy is driven by three objectives - expanding geographic footprint, strengthening solutions spectrum and strengthening domain, consulting or analytics capability, he said.
5-year deal
Meanwhile, KBC Group has selected Cognizant as a partner to optimise service delivery and drive superior customer engagement.
Under an initial five-year agreement, Cognizant will deliver application development, application maintenance and software testing services to KBC.
KBC caters mainly to retail, small and medium-size enterprise and local mid-cap clients.
It concentrates on its home markets of Belgium and certain countries in Central and Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Hungary), the release said.