WIPRO Limited of India, a global information technology, consulting and business process services company, announced on March 14 that it has signed a definitive agreement to divest Wipro’s hosted data centre services business to Ensono, a hybrid IT services provider, for US$405 million.

Wipro will unlock value by transitioning eight data centres and over 900 employees of its hosted data centre services business to Ensono. The acquisition significantly expands Ensono’s geographic footprint and global service capabilities, taking the company one step closer to achieving its vision of helping clients harness the power of hybrid IT to transform their businesses on a global scale.

Wipro and Ensono have also signed a long-term partnership agreement to jointly address the hybrid IT requirements of Wipro’s new and existing enterprise customers. As part of the agreement, Wipro will make a strategic investment of US$55 million in Ensono’s combined entity.

Wipro has been providing comprehensive IT management solutions for large and mid-size enterprises for over 25 years, and operates world-class data centres, globally. The company has expertise across multiple computing environments and platforms, including mainframes, iSeries, Unix, Windows and Linux servers, and offers an array of delivery models ranging from customized solutions delivered in Wipro’s data centres to remote management and cloud computing.

The hosted data centre services business is one of the three businesses that became a part of Wipro when it acquired Infocrossing Inc in 2007. The other two businesses – Medicare & Medicaid services in the health insurance space and ERP implementation services – have been integrated with other Wipro businesses and are not part of this divestment.

Ensono provides hybrid IT services, from cloud to mainframe, that enable clients to digitally transform their business. Through the acquisition, Ensono is doubling in size, diversifying its client portfolio and increasing its annualized revenue to be in excess of US$550 million. Beyond a growing geographic footprint and data centre presence, Ensono will manage over 260K MIPS and over 30K hosted servers.

Ensono is a portfolio company of Charlesbank Capital Partners and M/C Partners. The transaction was the third acquisition in less than three years for Ensono, according to company CEO Jeff VonDeylen. It is increasing its geographic presence by expanding its data centre operations in Germany, UK and the US, as well as establishing an operational presence in India.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the quarter ending June 2018.

Jefferies acted as an exclusive financial adviser to Ensono for this transaction, with Goodwin Procter and Ropes & Gray acting as the legal advisers. Credit Suisse was the sole financial adviser to Wipro with Hughes Hubbard and Reed LLP (for the US), and DLA Piper (for Europe) serving as its legal advisers.