Lisbon, Portugal, 9 Feb – The acquisition of Brazilian information technology (IT) companyGPTI will make it possible for Portugal Telecom (PT) to “boost its strategic presence in Brazil” the chief executive of PT said Monday in Lisbon.

Zeinal Bava said that in order to boost IT business in Brazil PT had needed an IT component such as GPTI.

As well as this the acquisition fits in with the Portuguese company’s focus on IT, in which it already had a presence in Brazil via Dedic, in Sao Paulo, and PT TI, which has a hub in Salvador da Bahia.

PT said Monday it had acquired GPTI, an operation which will make it possible for PT to become Brazil’s fourth-largest IT company.

According to PT GPTI has “a strong portfolio of customers,” including, for example, banks Bradesco, Itaú and Unibanco and multinational companies IBM, General Electric and Oracle.

The company, which posted turnover of 140 million reals in 2009, will be acquired “via an issue of Dedic shares, a subsidiary that is 100 percent owned by PT and which operates in the Brazilian contact centre market.” (macauhub)