Unisys Africa, a subsidiary of Unisys Corporation, has completed a black economic empowerment transaction by selling 30% of its shares to black-owned IT consultancy company Cyberknowledge Systems (CKS), for an unspecified amount.
Unisys had announced its intention to sell these shares to CKS on 30 March 2005.
"This transaction has transformed Unisys Africa into a broad-based black empowered enterprise," said Unisys Africa Managing Director Barry Holt. "As a result, Unisys Africa is in a significantly better position to expand its entire customer base while providing more extensive technical and strategic consulting services.
"By linking the excellence and expertise of Unisys and CKS, we are creating a broader portfolio of IT services and solutions that can support clients` needs in the highest quality and most cost-effective ways."
"CKS and Unisys strengths complement each other, and together we will offer clients enhanced solutions to their most challenging business needs," said CKS Chairman Mohamed Madhi. "Our company`s employees will join Unisys Africa immediately, where they will apply their consulting skills in new cross-industry teams to support current Unisys and CKS accounts while seeking new clients with needs matched to our combined strengths."
CKS has extensive experience working with executive level clients, focusing on business vision and strategic delivery throughout the organisation. It has a broad client base and is particularly strong in the public sector and the mining, communications and media sectors.
Funding for this transaction was provided to CKS by Investec Bank, which has also acquired a 25% interest in the holding company of CKS.
Unisys Africa has been registered as a South African company, known as Unisys Africa (Pty) Limited. The company will continue to be the sole representative of Unisys in SA and sub-Saharan Africa and will continue marketing Unisys` portfolio of services and solutions. Its board of directors will include several CKS representatives. Holt will continue in his position as managing director of Unisys Africa.
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