Cognizant acquires Zenith Technologies to boost life sciences wing

21 June 2019 Consultancy.uk

International consulting firm Cognizant has agreed a deal to acquire a second Irish consultancy since March, with the purchase due to conclude in the Autumn. The acquisition of Zenith Technologies will see around 800 staff join Cognizant, significantly bolstering its pharmaceutical manufacturing services offering.

As medical research becomes more advanced, ‘smart factories’ are increasingly a necessity to help manufacturers remain competitive. This evolution requires significant system modernisation, to enable real-time monitoring and convergence of IT and operational systems. Global consultancy Cognizant already works with the top 30 pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in the world, and in order to strengthen its substantial offering to the sector, consulting firm Cognizant has made a concerted effort to bolster its offering in the area.

Cognizant has now completed the acquisition of Cork-headquartered Zenith Technologies. Founded in 1998, the firm operates on five continents, with 16 locations around the globe, and works with nine of the world's 10 largest biopharmaceutical manufacturers, implementing and supporting manufacturing lifecycle software through consultancy, manufacturing digital and automation systems integration, and manufacturing site services business lines. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019, subject to satisfaction of closing conditions, including regulatory review. Financial details were not disclosed. 

Cognizant acquires Zenith Technologies to boost life sciences wing

The purchase sees Zenith Technologies' 800 staff join Cognizant's Life Sciences business unit, and represents a key addition to Cognizant’s portfolio of work within the Industry 4.0 and smart factory sectors. Interconnected "smart factories" have become a strategic priority for the industry, with production systems and processes becoming more complex due to research advances and increased demand for large-molecule biologics. This acquisition will allow the firm to provide end-to-end operational and technological services for biopharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, from factory design consultation to data acquisition.

Commenting on the deal, Brian Humphries, Chief Executive Officer of Cognizant said, "In acquiring Zenith Technologies, we expand Cognizant's IoT portfolio and extend our life sciences domain expertise by becoming a single-source provider of end-to-end smart factory capabilities.  Together, we are better positioned to help clients realise information and operational technology convergence in their manufacturing operations, and advance the development of life-saving drugs, biologics, specialised pharmaceuticals and medical devices. We look forward to welcoming Zenith Technologies' employees to Cognizant."

Joe Haugh, Chief Executive Officer of Zenith Technologies added, "It's an exciting time for us, with the life sciences industry embracing digital transformation to enable more flexible and efficient manufacturing facilities to bring new treatments to market faster. Our combined business will drive process excellence through tighter integration of manufacturing processes and systems, the efficient harnessing of information and analytics across the manufacturing value chain, and the adoption of IoT technologies delivering manufacturing 4.0."  

The news comes just months after Cognizant announced it had acquired FinTech innovation firm Meritsoft, also based in Ireland, for an undisclosed fee. The Dublin-headquartered firm specialises in RegTech, tax, post-trade and data analytics solutions, and has worked for a number of the world’s premier capital market institutions.

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