Xantium Technology Holdings last week completed the latest in a series of acquisitions that have seen the Alt-X listed technology company increase its offerings in the ITIL, Oracle and label and card printing spheres.

The acquisition of 100 percent of the business of ITIL training provider, Foster Melliar, for R6.13 million (US$957,320) was announced last Monday, and follows the acquisition of Waymark Consulting, an Oracle database consulting company, two weeks ago. It acquired the business of Spec Systems (card and label printing) late last year.

Says Xantium CEO, James Murray: "Foster Melliar has a phenomenal name and huge credibility in the local market, which was one of the things that attracted us to it. The main attraction is that it is a focused ITIL training house - 90 percent of its revenue is derived from ITIL training and consulting. Xantium?s Professional Services arm is purely consulting-focused, but does no training, so the synergy is there."

Foster Melliar will be merged into Xantium, with no headcount reduction but, Murray says: "We are definitely retaining the name. The company has a good reputation and a great blue-chip client database."

"What we provide to Foster Melliar," he adds, "is access to government contracts, for which it has been unable to tender, due to its lack of BEE credentials."

Murray says the company is still busy with the ?big one? - the acquisition of a large local company - he says that he has been working on this for seven months thus far, and hopes to finalize the matter ?almost within hours?. Xantium is also in negotiations with a smaller player, and hopes to make an announcement on that deal soon.