HCL Technologies to acquire select IBM products for $1.8 billion

IBM has announced that the company has agreed to sell select software assets to HCL Technologies for $1.8 billion. The move comes at a time when the US-based company is shifting its focus towards cloud computing.

HTC Technologies, which is based in New Delhi, is acquiring seven businesses from IBM which are focused on markets such as e-commerce and human resources (HR). The products include secure application development platform Appscam, secure device management solution BigFix, marketing automation product for on-premise called Unica, on-premise omnichannel eCommerce solution called Commerce, digital experience solution called Portal, workstream collaboration platform Connections and email-based, low-code application development platform called Notes & Domino.

The deal is expected to close by mid-2019, following regulatory approvals. The company further revealed that the existing licensing partnership between the two companies will continue for five products. In a statement, C Vijayakumar, President and Chief Executive Officer at HCL Technologies, said:

We continue to see great opportunities in the market to enhance our Mode-3 (Products and Platforms) offerings. The products that we are acquiring are in large growing market areas like security, marketing and commerce which are strategic segments for HCL. Many of these products are well regarded by clients and positioned in the top quadrant by industry analysts.

He further added that the products that the company is buying will be combined with HCL Technologies’ Mode-1 and Mode-2 services and their large-scale deployments will serve global enterprises across a wide range of industries and markets.

IBM’s senior vice president of cognitive solutions and research, John Kelly said:

We believe the time is right to divest these select collaboration, marketing and commerce software assets, which are increasingly delivered as stand-alone products. At the same time, we believe these products are a strong strategic fit for HCL, and that HCL is well positioned to drive innovation and growth for their customers.

He further added that the company will focus its investments on developing integrated capabilities in areas such as artificial intelligence for business, hybrid cloud, cybersecurity, analytics, supply chain, and blockchain as well as industry-specific platforms and solutions including healthcare, industrial Internet of Things and financial services.