Gartner, Inc., the leading provider of research and analysis on the global information technology industry, recently announced that, on December 30, 2009, it acquired Burton Group, Inc. for approximately $56 million in cash. Burton Group is a leading research and advisory services firm that focuses on providing practical, technically in-depth advice to front-line IT professionals. The firm has approximately 41 research analysts, 40 sales and client service associates, and projected 2009 revenue of $30 million.

The acquisition of Burton Group is expected to expand Gartner's product and service offerings, and increase its IT research market opportunity. The combination is also expected to drive operational efficiencies and cost savings.

Gene Hall, Gartner's chief executive officer, said, "Gartner has traditionally focused on providing strategic insight to CIOs and senior IT executives, while Burton Group has built a leading niche providing practical, how-to advice to front-line IT professionals. Thus, Burton Group is a great strategic fit for Gartner and should enable us to offer a more complete solution to every level and functional expert within an IT organization. By leveraging our scale and worldwide distribution capabilities, we expect to significantly grow Burton Group’s business over time."

Jamie Lewis, Burton Group’s chief executive officer, commented, “I am very excited about the opportunities for accelerated growth that Burton Group should have as part of Gartner. By combining our technical depth with Gartner’s global presence and distribution capabilities, we can reach a much broader set of clients with the most complete set of IT research and advisory services available.”

Gartner financed the acquisition through the use of cash on hand and borrowings under its existing line of credit.

Gartner expects the acquisition of Burton Group to be accretive to its revenue, earnings and cash flow over time. On a reported GAAP basis, the transaction is expected to be dilutive to income per share by ($0.12) – ($0.10) in 2010 and accretive to income per share by at least $0.00 – $0.03 in 2011. Excluding estimated acquisition and integration related charges, the transaction is expected to be modestly accretive to income per share in 2010 and add at least $0.04 – $0.06 to income per share in 2011. See "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" for a discussion of income per share, excluding estimated acquisition and integration charges. The Company will provide additional information on the transaction on its fourth quarter 2009 earnings conference call.

This BeyeNETWORK news item contains information from a recent press release by the company mentioned.