Imtech, a Netherlands-based technical services provider in Europe, has announced the acquisition of REAL Solutions Group, Ltd. in the UK. The purchase price (including earn-out) is based on six times the EBITA (earnings before interest taxes and amortization) and will be paid in cash. The acquisition will contribute directly to the profit per share, and the management of REAL Solutions will stay on after the acquisition, the company said.

Profile of REAL Solutions Group

REAL Solutions, based in London and Manchester, is an information communication and technology (ICT) specialist with a mix of activit ies around the IBM portfolio. Sixty percent of revenues are achieved from consultancy on IBM infrastructures and the sale and implementation of these, 20 percent from IBM software and 20 percent from ICT services. The contribution made by software and services within the IBM brands Rational, Lotus, Websphere and Tivoli is increasing. The company has a strong reputation for technical excellence and has a broad base of more than 400 customers. Due to this solid and stable track record and its clear potential for future growth, REAL Solutions is regarded by IBM as one of its most important business partners in the UK. The company currently employs nearly 100 people and achieved revenues of around $62.5 million (32 million pounds sterling or about 46 million euro) in 2007.

Strategy of Imtech

Imtech combines electrical engineering, ICT and mechanical engineering to produce total solutions. The contribution made by information and communication technology is expanding fast. Increasingly, the total technological solutions provided by Imtech are dominated by business intelligence and umbrella ICT applications. The expansion of Imtech's European ICT activities is primarily directed at the reinforcement of its position as a leading IBM and Microsoft Business Partner. In the Netherlands and in Germany, Imtech has already built up a strong position as an IBM Business Partner via Imtech ICT (Netherlands) and Fritz und Macziol (Germany, Switzerland, Austria). Its ambition is to build up a similar position via acquisitions in other Imtech countries (mainly the UK, Belgium and Spain). The acquisition of REAL Solutions fits very well with this strategy. Imtech has the am bition to strengthen existing partnerships with the world market leaders IBM and Microsoft and to become a leading European business partner. In 2007, as in the preceding years, Imtech worked successfully to further strengthen its European position through acquisitions. In a nutshell, the following companies were acquired:

* Peek Traffic (annual revenue 105 million euro, 600 employees): high-tech mobility solutions in Europe;

 * Suir Engineering (annual revenue 61 million euro, 550 employees): acquisition of a

position in the Irish industrial technology market;

* Aqua Group (annual revenue 51 million euro, 210 employees): strengthening of the position in the UK in the Cambridge region and the eastern part of Greater London;

* Acquisitions in the German (BMS Systems IT Solutions and X-Wert Consulting) and Swiss (Interex) ICT market (annual revenue 10 million euro, 40 employees), which have reinforced the partnerships with global market leaders IBM and Microsoft;

* Metubsa (annual revenue 4 million euro, 70 employees): specialized in industrial maintenance in northern Spain;

* In Luxembourg and in the marine market smaller, but healthy and growing companies were acquired (annual revenue 19 million euro, 113 employees).

The total purchase price of these acquisitions, including maximum earn-out, was 163.5 million euro. The total annual revenue of these acquisitions, with 1,583 new employees, was around 250 million euro. All the acquired companies performed well and made an immediate contribution to earnings per share for 2007.

The expected annual EBITA is around 20 million euro, of which 11 million euro was accounted for in 2007.

Imtech History

Imtech’s history goes back to the middle of the nineteenth century when the technical companies of Van Rietschoten & Houwens and Rud. Otto Meyer (ROM) were established. Imtech itself was created in 1993 by the clustering of 35 technical companies. All these companies formed part of the Internatio-Müller conglomerate, which had been established in 1970 and was the result of a merger between the trading and shipping concerns Internatio (1863) and Müller (1878). In 1993 the then Board of Management of Internatio-Müller decided that more synergy within the business activities would be desirable. The 35 technical companies, with a combined revenue of around 300 million euro, were brought together in Imtech.