Bangalore: Ness Technologies, a global provider of innovative IT solutions, has announced the completion of the merger with Apar Infotech, a Pittsburgh-based software services company.

The merger, which took place in May 2003, was valued at $78 million. With the merger, the Wolfson group, a major shareholder, now holds 34 per cent and Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm, also holds 34 per cent.

With the merger Apar, (now Ness Global Services — a new business group within Ness Technologies), has become part of Ness Technologies. The merger contributed to an increase in the size of the company — in total revenues, head count and international presence. Ness anticipates its total annual revenues to grow to $300 million.

The company has increased its workforce by 40 per cent to 3,800 employees because of the merger. The company will have offices in 12 countries — Israel, Canada, the US, the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, India, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan.

The Indian market is a strategic one for Ness. The company is committed to leveraging the newly-added professional talent from India and to maximise its potential. India is becoming dominant in the worldwide software industry and gaining recognition as such. Ness as an international company considers activity in the Indian market very important to its future and considers offshore software development as a key element of its strategy.

Says Ness Technologies president and CEO Raviv Zoller: "Our interest in the Indian market stems from the fact that India is a proven success story in the world software industry. As a company that provides international IT services, it is important for us to reach this market, which has broad potential both for providing IT services offshore and for highly talented professional employees. We will continue to examine additional investments in India and the region with great interest."

The ''offshore leveraged'' execution model employed by Ness helps optimise the execution paradigm of lower cost, high quality and shortest time to market by concentrating the efforts from its SEI-CMM-Level 5 certified delivery centres in India. The acquisition of Apar has enabled Ness to provide its customers with offshore capabilities that are essential for international companies in the current global economy. The Indian branch of the company will provide offshore services, primarily to the North American, European and Asian regions.

Adds Zoller: "The aim of the merger is to become a larger company that will succeed in leveraging all the complementary capabilities, and in expanding its activities in the international market. As a company that deals with providing IT services, our main resource is manpower. At Apar we have found partners — shareholders and directors with business vision that suited our goals, who have led Apar to impressive achievements and an impressive team of professional employees with excellent technological and managerial capabilities."

Says Ness Global Services president Rajeev Srivastava: "By becoming part of Ness, an international company, Apar will be able to increase its size and visibility as well as the potential to be involved in additional projects and gain access to additional clients. A strong offshore focus will help Ness in providing end-to-end solutions to their global clients."

Ness has recruited about 200 employees in India since the completion of the merger, and plans to recruit about 300 additional employees until the end of 2003. The merger is unique in the fact that this is a merger for the purpose of expansion and leverage of the combined activities. Ness Technologies is a leading global IT services firm. With over 3800 employees, Ness serves Fortune 500 companies, emerging middle-market firms, government agencies, and non-profit organisations around the world.

The company specialises in the fields of development, consulting and integration of software solutions in a number of sectors including public and government, healthcare and pharmaceutical, financial services, telecom, utilities and manufacturing, defence and security.