NCS buys Dialog Group for $325M

NCS has bought The Dialog group, which it claims is Australia’s largest privately-owned IT services company, in a deal worth A$325 million (S$325 million).

According to Gartner, IT spending in Australia is showing its strongest growth in a decade and is projected to grow 6.5 percent in 2022. The largest IT spending segment in Australia is IT services, which is expected to grow to A$39 billion in 2022.

The parties say the acquisition will unlock new growth opportunities in the Australian market and accelerate NCS’ regionalisation strategy.

Dialog has a presence across Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Perth, Darwin, and Adelaide.

According to Ng Kuo Pin, CEO of NCS, said, “This acquisition is a significant step in the regionalisation of NCS and leverages the combined strengths of NCS and Dialog and their established track records and reputations across both Singapore and Australia. The scale of this acquisition, our largest to date, reflects our firm commitment to growing our business beyond the shores of Singapore, particularly in Australia where we can also leverage the strategic presence of the Singtel Group.”

NCS believes the acquisition will bolster its focus on innovation, cloud, artificial intelligence and data analytics.

At a more practical level, it triples the number of highly skilled IT specialists in its operations in Australia to 1,300. 

Ng added, “Collectively, our capabilities, talent and reach will fortify and consolidate our position in Australia and help our clients and the industry meet the digital transformation demands of the future economy.”

Australian scale

As part of its growth plan, NCS has been building its presence in Australia since December 2020 via NCS NEXT, its digital innovation and services arm.

Last year NCS NEXT bought two companies; Riley, a cloud consultancy with dedicated expertise in Google cloud applications and Eighty20 Solutions, a cloud transformation specialist with capabilities across Microsoft cloud platforms.

Alan Key, Dialog’s CEO said, “Both NCS and Dialog’s talent development cultures and programmes will develop the best talent pipeline and create exciting jobs and growth opportunities.”

The deal also means Dialog's teams can utilise NCS NEXT Innovation Centres, in places like Singapore and Melbourne, to drive innovation through cross-border collaboration and co-creation.

The completion of the acquisition is subject to fulfilment of closing conditions, including relevant approvals from regulatory authorities and other third parties, and is expected to be completed within three months.