VW Sells Off IT Arm

Volkswagen has sold its in-house IT services consultancy, Gedas, to T-Systems for between $473 million and $532 million, reports News.com.

The deal, which still must be approved by antitrust regulators, stipulates that T-Systems will handle VW’s IT for the next seven years under an agreement valued at $2.95 billion. T-Systems is owned by Deutsche Telekom.

News.com characterizes Gedas’s sale as part of a trend among large German companies to get out of the IT services business. Automakers, industrial groups and the main railway operator all turned their IT departments into stand-alone businesses, but for most, the consultancy approach hasn’t panned out.

Also this week, Siemens sold its computer maintenance division to Fujitsu Siemens Computers, a preexisting joint venture with Fujitsu, for an undisclosed sum.

–-Edward Prewitt