an estimated £1.7 billion and represents a 59.8 percent premium on Logica's closing share price the day before the deal was agreed.

However, analysts are saying that the deal highlights the failures of Logica's management and that CGI will not create a new global business through integrating Logica's European operations.

Douglas Hayward, research director at IDC, for instance, questioned Logica chairman David Taylor's predictions for the future of the company following the acquisition, where he said that it would 'create a leading player in the IT services sector worldwide with a meaningful presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia'.

The combined operation of the two companies will be pretty much the same size everywhere, argued Hayward, just spread over more geographies.