DiData eyes Oakton in landmark deal

Dimension Data Australia has moved to buy IT consultancy firm Oakton for approximately $171 million under a scheme implantation deed announced today.

DiData offered $1.90 per share for the company, 30 percent higher than Oakton's closing share price of $1.46 yesterday.

The scheme is subject to approval by the Supreme Court of Victoria, as well as Oakton shareholders, who have been recommended by the Oakton board to vote in favour of the purchase.

Oakton is already a partner of Dimension Data, having signed up to resell the DiData cloud in June 2013.

ASX-listed Oakton has performed less than ideally in recent months. In its latest half-year results, it reported a 3.3 percent drop in revenue to $81 million and a 9.5 percent fall in profits to $4.1 million, admitting trading has been "challenging".

In a statement, Oakton executive chairman Paul Holyoake said the company's efforts to invest in its Indian operations, solution development and service integration partnerships had been recognised by DiData.

"While we remain positive on the outlook for Oakton as an independent company, a primary focus for the Oakton board is always to maximise shareholder value," he said.

"Given that the proposal put forward by Dimension Data represents an attractive premium for Oakton shares, it is the unanimous recommendation of the board that shareholders vote in favour of the scheme, subject of course to an independent expert determining the scheme is in the best interests of Oakton shareholders and in the absence of a superior proposal."

A shareholder meeting to approve the deal be will held in November. Oakton has more than 1100 employees across Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Perth, Brisbane, and Hyderabad.