This news has come as a bombshell for the market of translation & interpretation. Two giants of the sector have reached an agreement to create a “super-agency”.
RWS has just purchased SDL for 854 million pounds Stirling (more than 953 million Euro).
SDL shareholder will hold 29.5% of the group, whilst those holding shares in RWS will possess 70.5%.
The most surprising part of the announcement, the brand “SDL” will disappear, given it has turned itself into an integral part of the translation industry (with CAT tools and the launching of a platform with the SDL brand).
Even though a vote by the shareholders will have an effect on the outcome, the agreement is virtually locked-down, for the last quarter of 2020.
Another notable effect for the market, the future RWS Group will, without doubt, become the leader in the market, and experts agree that the Group will overtake Transperfect in the years to come.
Need to find out more? We would recommend the reading of this article, which will give you clear details on the modalities of this purchase: https://slator.com/ma-and-funding/rws-to-buy-sdl-in-transformative-deal-for-the-language-industry/
Does this “super-agency” model show the future of the translation industry? Do you think such a stock market investment in these two groups will help the health of our market? What will the impact be on the personnel of each company?
