Savvis Buys Assets of Ciber's Outsourcing Business

Hosted IT provider Savvis, a CenturyLink company will buy assets from Ciber's global outsourcing business for $7 million, with a potential earn-out based on results for the remainder of the year, the companies said Tuesday.

The assets include client and vendor relationships, infrastructure, technology and facilities spanning several countries, the companies said. Savvis expects to hire the 750 staffers who currently support Ciber’s global ITO business. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Savvis plans to provide the newly-acquired clients with continued IT outsourcing support in addition to offering its enhanced capabilities, including cloud services. Ciber will continue to provide these clients with application development and outsourcing solutions, including system design, implementation and managed services, partnering with Savvis to leverage its expertise and resources in the physical infrastructure.

The agreement builds on the partnership the two companies formed in July 2011 that enabled Ciber to leverage Savvis’ worldwide data centers and network capacity to serve the growing needs of Ciber’s clients. Savvis has more than 50 data centers throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

“The acquisition of Ciber’s global ITO business will complement Savvis’ existing ITO assets by expanding the organization’s capabilities for application management services and help desk support,” said Jim Ousley, chief executive officer of Savvis and president of CenturyLink’s Enterprise Markets Group. “Ciber’s ITO customers will also benefit by gaining access to Savvis’ global footprint, services and account teams.”

“This action aligns with Ciber’s strategies to continue to narrow our focus on core offerings and market segments, and to drive growth through strategic partnerships with businesses that have scale and are leaders in the industry,” said Ciber Chief Executive Officer Dave Peterschmidt. “Our shareholders should see increased value as we concentrate on our core offerings. We will continue to provide global hosting and cloud solutions in partnership with Savvis where it benefits our clients.”