Grant Thornton to Sell E-Business Consulting Practice

Grant Thornton LLP [1], the leading U.S. accounting tax and management consulting firm serving middle-market, entrepreneurial companies, has agreed to sell its 450-person e-Business consulting practice to Hitachi Ltd. for approximately $175 million.

Grant Thornton had announced plans last February to sell its e-Business Consulting Group. The consultancy group, headquartered in Dallas, enjoys annual revenue of about $90 million and has 15 U.S. offices.

The new e-Business Consulting Group will be managed as an independent business unit and will continue to focus on its core competencies of IT consulting and system integration while expanding its penetration in the IT solutions marketplace.

The sale fits into Hitachi's plan [2] to transition from the role of leading hardware provider to global leader in IT solutions.

Hitachi, Ltd. [3] is recognized as one of the leading global electronics companies, with 340,000 employees and fiscal 1999 revenues of approximately $75.5 billion.