Perficient Expands into South America, Acquiring Colombia’s PSL

American IT consultant Perficient Inc has acquired Colombian software services provider Productora de Software (PSL) for around US$70 million, expanding its footprints to South America.

Medellin-based Perficient has 600 employees and runs delivery centers in Bogota and Cali as well. It makes around US$33 million in annual revenue.

Among the services it provides include IT integration and application development, with banks and healthcare providers being its main clients.

“We are excited to strengthen our global delivery capabilities with the strategic acquisition of PSL, a nearshore software development company,” said Jeff Davis, President and CEO of Perficient.” Our clients’ need to adapt and innovate quickly has never been more critical.”

This is Perficient’s third acquisition this year after Brainjocks and MedTouch. The US firm’s executives say PSL would help them offer services at a lower cost.

Beyond low-cost, PSL adds many important services to Perficient’s portfolio, including custom software development, testing, and customer support capabilities.

Over the past 34 years, PSL has developed critical software applications for the region’s largest banks as well as some of the reputed names, including the Panama Canal.

It is the first in the Spanish-speaking world to receive the Software Process Achievement Award granted by the IEEE Computer Society and Carnegie Mellon‘s Software Engineering Institute. In addition, it is also the first Latin American software company to achieve CMMI 5 Status.

Upon the closure of the deal, PSL will be folded into Perficient and its CEO Jorge Aramburo will get a new ‘leadership role’ in the merged entity, according to a statement from the US firm.

To get their money fully, PSL owners need to meet certain financial targets in the next year, say a Colombian news portal Enter.co

This is the third major merger in Latin America’s IT services industry in the past two years, with the other two being  Swiss ShareOne’s purchase of Intergrupo and Belatrix’s merger with Globant.