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Gen-i offers 2,000 severance packages to buy Revera
Wed, 24th Apr 2013
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Gen-i has offered up to 2,000 staff severance packages, according to claims from a trusted TechDay source.

Speaking off the record, the well-connected source says the Telecom business division has apparently offered the deals in a bid to fund a deal for IT infrastructure firm Revera.

The source claims Gen-i have offered a 'take it or leave it' style proposal for employees, who may have as early as May 1 to make a decision.

"It's basically accept the offer by this date or you'll be put on contract, a contract Gen-i can cancel at anytime," the source says.

"It's been commented a few times which why the public numbers are a lot lower, as its assumed most staff will come back on as contract, so technically speaking they are not losing their jobs."

Worryingly however, the source claimed there could be an attrition rate of contracts going forward as the company tries to seal the Revera deal.

After allegedly carrying out due diligence on the business earlier this month, Gen-i is rumoured to be using the severance packages to fund the purchase, in an attempt to get back into the government space.

"They've been taking an absolute pounding by Dimension Data on delivery and cost," the source says.

Delving deeper however, Gen-i recently appointed Robin Hartendorp to the newly created role of general manager Central Government. Hartendorp is, of course, very recently ex-Dimension Data.

Along with IBM and Datacom, Revera is one of three current government approved companies working with the Infrastructure as a Service, a deal Gen-i failed to secure.

So with Gen-i at a seeming disadvantage, would buying Revera would make any difference to the business?

"All of the reasons of why Gen-I didn't get an AOG first time around may effect the existing Revera agreement negatively," the source says.

"Gen-I has laid off a ton of people, spent more money yet still hasn't re-entered the market as intended."