• e& enterprise to be the majority shareholder in a joint venture to build the largest pure play cloud managed and professional services provider in the METAP region
• e& to make a minority investment in Bespin Global’s holding company to participate in the success story of a leading global cloud managed service provider

Dubai, UAE: e& enterprise, part of e& (formerly known as Etisalat Group), today announced the signing of a binding agreement to form a joint venture with Bespin Global, a leading public cloud managed services provider. The joint venture will be branded “Bespin Global MEA, an e& enterprise company”, focusing on offering public cloud managed and professional services to serve the customers in the Middle East, Turkey, Africa and Pakistan (METAP).

The JV will be 65% owned by e& enterprise and 35% by Bespin Global. Both e& enterprise and Bespin Global will contribute their existing public cloud businesses and related professional and managed services from the region to the JV. e& enterprise will be making a primary investment of $60 million in Bespin Global and join its Board of Directors. In addition, e& enterprise has the option to invest another $60 million within a period of 18 months from completion of the transaction. Both shareholders will contribute growth capital to the JV.

The joint venture will leverage on the capabilities of both companies. e& enterprise will provide strong local market presence and its broad portfolio of digital transformation solutions. Bespin Global will provide deep expertise in cloud migration, cloud operations, cloud native application development, cloud optimisation and cloud billing. The joint venture will provide a one stop cloud solution to help enterprises in its digital transformation journey.

As a part of the agreement, e& enterprise will also invest in Bespin Global’s holding company. Bespin Global is one of the fastest growing cloud managed service providers serving over 1,700 customers from its locations in South Korea, China, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the US. Bespin Global has been recognised as ‘Visionary’ in the Gartner MQ for the Public Cloud IT Transformation Services category, and has over 1,000 cloud experts across AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and other cloud platforms.

The total investment and future commitments announced today are worth over $100 million.

Salvador Anglada, CEO of e& enterprise, said: "e& enterprise always works closely with customers to maximise their digital potential by designing, delivering and operating impactful, intelligent and secure end-to-end digital solutions. The joint venture with Bespin Global and the investment in the holding company are part of our ongoing efforts to extend our cloud offerings and establish our commitment as a trusted partner to governments and enterprises in the UAE.”

John Hanjoo Lee, CEO and Co-founder of Bespin Global, said: "Bespin Global is very excited to partner with e& enterprise in the METAP markets as our enterprise customers accelerate their digital transformation. The joint venture between Bespin Global and e& enterprise will leverage capabilities that will help build the future of cloud business. In addition, we welcome e& as an investor in Bespin Global and appreciate their confidence in our strategy and operations. We look forward to accelerating our growth plan and profitably expanding our operations globally."

"The partnership with Bespin Global will allow e& enterprise to offer the right mix of cloud services based on customer needs, including cloud consulting, migration and managed services," said Miguel Villalonga, CEO of e& enterprise Cloud. "This will open up a plethora of opportunities in the public cloud space, especially as its deployment plays an integral role in many public and private sector projects today. With e& enterprise's reach across several sectors, particularly governments and large enterprises, and their needs set to accelerate, it is essential to leverage best-in-class capabilities to be able to capitalise on growth opportunities."

Mouteih Chaghlil, CEO of Bespin Global MEA, said: “This joint venture brings together the comprehensive public cloud technologies and services of both parties to expand our geographic footprints and accelerate digital transformation and cloud adoption across the METAP region. Our employees are excited about the new venture, and we welcome our new colleagues to the joint venture.  We are committed to building our company as not only the best cloud partner to our customers but as the best place to work for cloud experts.  With e& enterprise’s support, we will create a more efficient customer experience through the cloud and advance our business goals while empowering METAP’s organisations and talent to reap the commercial advantages of being cloud-ready.”

Cloud growth will increase with the rising adoption of technologies such as IoT, edge computing, 5G, and real-time analytics enabled by AI and Machine Learning (ML). With this joint venture, e& enterprise can leverage Bespin Global MEA's capabilities to serve multiple parts of the cloud value chain.