13 July 2017 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal
Facilities management provider Servest has partnered with Bottega InvestCo to buy integrated ICT services company Getronics.
The transaction, which is supported by Investec, will "enable Servest to play a leading role in the workplace technology market and provide a seamless FM and mobile technology offering to its growing client base".
Getronics has operations in 22 countries and provides "a complete portfolio of integrated ICT services including solutions focused on workspace management, managed cloud, unified communications and collaboration, and network and applications for large corporates and the public sector".
It has experience in application and solutions development and provides FM-specific products in the corporate, healthcare, and transport sectors among others.
Getronics also has five global multi-language service centres across Europe and Asia that provide help desk solutions "which offer insight on customer satisfaction, churn rates, service issues, and contractor performance, integrating different communication technologies such as instant messaging, chat, telephone and email".
This will enable Servest to reduce helpdesk demand, expand contact service hours, and improve service delivery time.
Rob Legge, group CEO at Servest, said: "This transaction will allow Servest to lead the way in bringing smart building technology and the Internet of Things to our FM customers globally. While other FM companies have formed partnerships with ICT providers, the Getronics acquisition will ensure that our joint offering to our customers is seamless."
Nana Baffour, who led the transaction on behalf of Bottega InvestCo and who is also a majority shareholder of Bottega and president and CEO of Grupo Cimcorp, said: "The transaction brings together the ICT experience of Grupo Cimcorp and Getronics with the leadership of Servest in the facilities management sector."