Peoplebank Acquire iGate Australia

Article appeared in: Sydney Morning Herald
Date: 15th June 2004

Australian-owned IT recruiter Peoplebank Australia has acquired the Australian recruitment arm of Nasdaq-listed iGate Inc. The acquisition, Peoplebank’s largest and fourth since 2000, includes iGate’s contracting and recruitment services in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

iGate’s staff will merge into Peoplebank’s operations, resulting in a new Peoplebank branch in Canberra. According to Peoplebank’s PR blurb, the merged company will have revenues in excess of $100 million, 60 staff and more than 800 billable contractors, operating out of offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. This has effectively more than doubled the size of Peoplebank, which before the merger had revenues of $40 million.

Peoplebank managing director Leon Lau says his company was able to acquire iGate because, other than in North America, the company is getting out of recruitment worldwide. Lau says: “They have also sold their UK recruitment business. iGate has changed direction and they’re opening an office in India and moving into business process outsourcing.”

Lau also says Peoplebank is still in the market to make other IT recruitment acquisitions, even as the IT market has continued to pick up steam over the past six months. “The market’s in a consolidation phase and IT is all we do.”