US authorities have approved international research firm Gartner`s $162 million cash deal to buy its smaller rival Meta Group.
The deal comes into effect today, but it is yet to be determined how this will impact the companies` South African representatives.
This morning, Meta`s South African clients received an e-mail from Gartner CEO Gene Hall, confirming the transaction has taken place and that Meta clients are now Gartner`s.
"As a valued research client, you now also have personalised access to gartner.com. This is where you can access both the latest research from Gartner, and Meta Group research published prior to 1 April," the e-mail says.
Gartner announced in January that it would buy its rival, which is also based in the US state of Connecticut, as soon as US competition authorities had approved the deal.
The local operations are still waiting to find out what will happen to their respective businesses. Meta South Africa and Gartner South Africa operate under franchise, or licence agreements, and both entities have never been directly owned by their principals.
The local companies have different business models. Meta South Africa was started almost 15 years ago by MD Peter Riches and has since grown from a pure reseller of its research to a team of about 13 consultants and analysts.
Last year Gartner South Africa celebrated its 10th year of operations. It remains a reseller of the research and services provided, with benchmarking as the only local service.
Riches says there have been some legal discussions between the two local companies concerning the merger, but they have deliberately steered away from talking about clients.
"Now that the merger is official, we can move onto the next step," he says.
Gartner SA GM Desire van der Lith says she expects to hold discussions with her principal today and next week on what the next steps will be and how the local operations will be affected.
"It is important to note that it will be business as usual for our local clients," she says.
Share