LTM to buy Randstad’s technology consulting business in Australian and Europe
Indian IT services group LTM is seeking to acquire the technology and consulting services business of global staffing giant Randstad in Australia and parts of Europe in a deal worth €160 million.
Headquartered in Mumbai, LTM – rebranded from LTIMindtree earlier this year – sits behind the absolute Indian tech giants in Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro, and HCLTech – but nevertheless generates over $4.5 billion in annual revenues with a headcount of 85,000-plus.
While the firm also has a limited presence in Australia compared to its Indian cousins, that could be about to change with the €160 million offer to buy Randstad’s local technology & consulting business, along with that in France, Germany, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
“The proposal is aligned with our five-year strategy to build a more resilient, diversified, balanced portfolio,” said LTM CEO Venu Lambu. “By combining our global AI-centric capabilities with local context and industry depth, this acquisition would strengthen our ability to deliver compliant, domain-driven AI services and sovereign solutions in markets that are strategically important to us.”
Randstad is among the largest staffing, recruitment and temporary work groups in Australia, but the scale of its local technology & consulting practice is unknown. Likewise murky is LTM’s current employee count in its Melbourne and Sydney offices.
Acquisition and partnership
LTM said that the aim of the acquisition, which includes a five-year ‘360-degress digital transformation and talent management exchange of capabilities, was to expand its presence in key sectors, including as to defence, utilities, and banking & financial services, which are among Australia’s biggest consulting cash-cows and an existing focus of LTM’s local operations.
More specifically, the agreement would see LTM become the technology partner for Randstad’s Global Capability Center in India to help accelerate its digital modernisation while the latter is made managed talent service provider for LTM’s expanding global workforce alongside the transfer of Randstad’s tech & consulting practice enabling both companies to focus on their core capabilities.
“We would ensure our clients continue to receive world-class services while we streamline our portfolio to invest in the growth segments and digital marketplaces that offer the most scale and value,” said Randstad CEO Sander van ‘t Noordende. “We are equally excited to partner with LTM, where their AI expertise will be instrumental in evolving our digital capabilities.”
In its press release, Randstad, headquartered in the Netherlands, referred to its technology & consulting services practice in ‘Europe and Australia’ as that being sold, whereas LTM in its own release specifically and solely mentioned the recruitment agency’s business in France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Australia, which together generate revenues of more than $500 million.
The firm said the deal “would augment its global AI-centric capabilities with nearshore and local domain expertise in digital engineering, cybersecurity, and IoT crucial for delivering transformations for customers in a sovereign-compliant and scalable model,” while “expanding its scale in Europe and Australia and enhancing its position in regulated and high-growth verticals.”
Notably, Lambu spent two years as the CEO of Randstad Digital prior to being appointed LTM chief at the beginning of last year after having previously been president (with an earlier background as Cognizant), while Van ‘t Noordende came to Randstad after earlier serving as global chief executive of Accenture’s management consulting business.
