LTM Ltd is acquiring Randstad's subsidiaries in Europe and Australia for $186 million as CEO Venu Lambu purchases a former employer's businesses in the company's first acquisition since its formation. According to reports from Live Mint, the Bengaluru-based company will acquire Randstad's technology and consulting business across France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Australia, representing €469 million (approximately $500 million) in annual revenue. This acquisition makes for almost double LTM's incremental revenue of $271 million last year, bringing LTM's total revenue to about $5.2 billion compared to Tech Mahindra's $6.39 billion reported last fiscal. The deal comes after LTM was formed in November 2022 following Larsen & Toubro's hostile bid to acquire Mindtree and merge it with L&T Infotech.
The acquisition comes as LTM reported strong financial growth with revenue jumping 6% to $4.76 billion in FY26, marking its fastest pace of growth. As reported by Live Mint, Randstad has experienced revenue declines for the past two years, falling 13% and 11% in 2025 and 2024 respectively. CEO Venu Lambu attributed the revenue decline to three key factors: macroeconomic challenges over the past two years, specifically in Europe, a conscious effort in FY25 to trim tail accounts, and the company's inability to help clients scale despite many opening and ramping up operations. Randstad, a Diemens, Netherlands-based staffing services firm, ended last year with about $25 billion in revenue, down 2% from the year ago. LTM ended last year with 15.4% in operating margins, up 90 basis points, with Lambu noting that Randstad's gross margins were better than LTM's near-shore resources.
According to Live Mint, the acquisition is expected to widen LTM's footprint across aerospace & defence, automotive, utilities and BFS sectors, which together make up more than three-fifths of the company's business. CEO Venu Lambu stated that combining global AI-centric capabilities with local context and industry depth would strengthen the company's ability to deliver compliant, domain-driven AI services and sovereign solutions in strategically important markets. The deal includes LTM managing Randstad's global capability centre operations for five years, with some employees expected to transition to LTM. As part of the acquisition, LTM gets access to new verticals including aerospace and defence, supporting the company's goal to double revenue to almost $10 billion by FY31. Randstad CEO Sander van 't Noordende noted that by partnering with LTM, clients would continue receiving world-class services while Randstad streamlines its portfolio to invest in growth segments and digital marketplaces.
The acquisition follows broader industry trends with Infosys planning to buy US tech services companies Optimum Healthcare IT and Stratus for $560 million, taking its acquisition spending to an all-time high of $808 million. Wipro spent $446 million on its Olam and AlphaNet acquisitions, more than what it spent in the previous fiscal when it bought Harman Digital Transformation Services for $375 million. According to Live Mint, the deal aligns with LTM's ambitious growth plans and parent company L&T's five-year plan to set an ambitious goal for Lambu, who assumed the top job in May last year. The company won its largest deal four months after Lambu took over as CEO, securing an IT transformation deal valued at $585 million over six years from US entertainment company Paramount Global in October.
As reported by Live Mint, industry expert Phil Fersht from HFS Research suggested that Randstad may have decided this business no longer fits its core staffing-centric operating model, while LTM sees an opportunity to industrialize and platformize those capabilities more aggressively under an AI-first services model. The acquisition represents LTM's commitment to buying capabilities and market access as the country's largest tech services companies advance their growth strategies through strategic acquisitions. According to Anand Rathi Institutional Equities lead IT analyst Sushovon Nayak, the acquisition will increase LTM's Europe exposure beyond 20% from approximately 15% currently and provide access to new verticals including aerospace and defence. The company expects the acquisition to be completed in the July-September 2026 period.
