Gartner Buys Again

IT research and consulting specialist Gartner has announced its second major acquisition in five weeks, buying competitor the Burton Group for around $56m in cash.

Gartner said the deal was finalized on December 30, capping a month in which it also bought supply chain specialist AMR Research, Inc. for c.$64m, also a cash deal.

Midvale, Utah-based Burton Group provides research and advisory services to front-line IT professionals via 41 research analysts and 40 sales and client service associates. Originally focusing on the networking sector, it has broadened out to cover most areas of enterprise IT hardware and software, and estimates 2009 revenue at around $30 million. Gartner says the acquisition will expand its product and service offerings, and bring it new opportunities in the IT research market. It also predicts operational efficiencies and cost savings.

CEO Gene Hall comments: 'Gartner has traditionally focused on providing strategic insight to CIOs and senior IT executives, while Burton Group has built a leading niche providing practical, how-to advice to front-line IT professionals. Thus, Burton Group is a great strategic fit for Gartner and should enable us to offer a more complete solution to every level and functional expert within an IT organization. By leveraging our scale and worldwide distribution capabilities, we expect to significantly grow Burton Group's business over time.'

Burton CEO Jamie Lewis says the deal brings his firm opportunities for accelerated growth: 'By combining our technical depth with Gartner's global presence and distribution capabilities, we can reach a much broader set of clients with the most complete set of IT research and advisory services available.'

Gartner, which financed the acquisition through a combination of cash on hand and borrowings under its existing line of credit, expects it to be accretive to revenue, earnings and cash flow over time, 'though dilutive to earnings per share in 2010.

Gartner, based in Stamford, CT and founded in 1979, services around 60,000 clients in 10,000 distinct organizations via 4,000 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants in 80 countries.

Web site: www.gartner.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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