Canberra tech firm MF & Associates bought by Japanese giant Fujitsu

Canberra-based tech consulting agency MF & Associates has been acquired by Japanese multinational Fujitsu.

Canberra-based tech consulting agency MF & Associates has been acquired by Japanese multinational Fujitsu. Picture: iStock

Canberra-based tech consulting agency MF & Associates has been acquired by Japanese multinational Fujitsu.

The 52-person firm, which offers cybersecurity, technology and management consulting, is the sixth acquisition Fujitsu has made in the Asia-Pacific across the past three years, most in Australia. Other acquisitions included oobe, a Microsoft and Azure-focused tech company, in February last year and data analytics consultancy Versor, which was acquired in April in 2021.

Fujitsu’s Australia APAC chief executive Graeme Beardsell told The Australian MF & Associates was unique in the current market, with nearly 80 per cent of its staff having cybersecurity skills.

“What attracted us to MF was essentially two things. One is their great capacity in the business transformation, consulting and cyber consulting space. They’ve got 52 professionals and about 40 plus have got cyber skills,” he said.

Fujitsu wouldn’t disclose the value of the acquisition but Mr Beardsell said MF & Associates had increased its revenue to $10m in under four years.

While MF & Associates will continue to operate as a stand alone company – it will be rebranded to MF&A, a Fujitsu company – it likely would be absorbed eventually into Fujitsu’s broader team, Mr Beardsell said.

Fujitsu typically kept companies stand-alone for about two years before making plans on their absorption, he said.

New Zealand cybersecurity business InPhySec, which Fujitsu acquired in September 2021, already had been absorbed into oobe.

“We’re in the throes of talking about what integration looks like. The security company (InPhySec), which we bought in New Zealand, is being folded into the oobe business, as will MF & Associates,” Mr Beardsell said.

“MF & Associates might be a faster integration because of the fact that they’re really well lined up with our security and cloud consulting practices.”

Australia increasingly was producing mature firms that were proving their own on a global stage, Mr Beardsell said. “And I don’t just say that because I’m Australian.”

MF & Associates managing director Mat Franklin said the firm would benefit from the use of Fujitsu’s own technology.

“Like Fujitsu, we pride ourselves on having a strong purpose-led approach to the way we do business and we’re thrilled with the synergies this will create for our existing and future clients on their digital transformation journeys,” he said.

Fujitsu’s latest acquisition forms part of an ambitious goal to reach a consulting capability with 10,000 staff by fiscal 2025.