VILNIUS - Alna Business Solutions, a subsidiary of the country's leading IT group Alna, has acquired 80 percent of Estonia's PerSimplex, a business-system service company.
Following the merger, the group said it hoped to become the leading provider of management-system installation services and consultations in all three Baltic countries.
"Being part of a large-scale company will enable us to achieve greater success in realizing our potential. Moreover, both companies have identical approaches toward business and internal culture, which partly predetermined the successful completion of this deal," said Meelis Nafthal, chairman of PerSimplex.
After the transaction's completion, the number of Alna employees dealing with this sector would rise to 110, from about 80.
"Merging with PerSimplex is a coherent step which comes in line with our strategic objectives to become the leader in the Baltic countries and to expand in other European Union member states," said Tomas Milaknis, Alna Business Solutions CEO.
He admitted that talks with PerSimplex had been complicated, as the company was a particularly promising and highly-valued player in Estonia's IT service market.
The Alna group includes Alna, the parent company, Alna Business Solutions, business system installation and consulting, Alna Software, programming services, and Alna Intelligence, IT services and consulting. Moreover, the group controls PerSimplex in Estonia and Unitree in Latvia.
The group also owns Alnos Biuro Sistemos, a retail stationery chain.
For the first nine months of 2004, the Alna group reported a turnover of 76.5 million litas (22.17 million euros), a rise of 6 percent from the previous year's figure of 71.9 million litas. Aggregate pretax earnings increased by 16 percent, to 25.5 million litas in the reporting period.
