BT announces that it has acquired the assets of Telexis Brasil, Fiat's Brazilian telecommunications business. Telexis provides services to both Fiat Group and external customers. The transaction follows the acquisition of Fiat's Italian telecommunications subsidiary, Atlanet, which was completed in February 2006. It is a significant planned step in the delivery of BT's global contract worth 450 million euros over five years to supply telecommunications services to Fiat, as over 30 million euros of this value is contributed from Brazil.

Luis Alvarez, BT vice president Spain, Portugal and Latin America, commented yesterday: “I am delighted to add Fiat Group to the growing list of major organisations we are servicing in Latin America. The acquisition of the assets of Telexis Brasil is a further important milestone in the delivery of the global contract with Fiat and validates BT’s unique strategy that combines local and global networked IT capabilities.
 

"It enhances our investment and momentum in Brazil, and further demonstrates our continuing success in delivering global contracts with leading multi-national companies across the world," he added. The acquisition of the assets of Telexis Brasil from Fiat further strengthens BT's position in the Latin American market by consolidating the local relationship with Fiat, bringing key skills and a number of important external customers. Many of these have supply chain relationships with Fiat. For the year ended 31 December 2005, Telexis Brasil achieved revenues of around US$2 million and had gross assets of approximately US$640,000.