EBX Inks IBM IT Agreement

Eike Batista’s EBX Group has signed a deal with IBM that includes selling the US company a 20% stake in Six Automacao, EBX’s technology company. The deal also contemplates a 10-year $1bn IT outsourcing contract where IBM will handle EBX’s IT operations, the Brazilian company says. Both companies will also create a center to develop technology solutions for infrastructure and natural resources. EBX declines to say if IBM paid for the 20% stake in its subsidiary or if the stake was given as payment for the $1bn services contract. Officials at EBX decline to comment further and IBM officials could not immediately comment on the details of the deal. If the stake in the EBX subsidiary was agreed as payment for the $1bn contract, this would put a $5bn value on EBX’s unlisted technology subsidiary. The IBM agreement comes just days after Batista sold a 5.63% stake in EBX to the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala Development company, for $2.0bn, a price that valued the group overall at $35.5bn.