PricewaterhouseCoopers (News - Alert) Canada has announced the purchase of MTS Allstream (News - Alert) Inc.’s non-telecom IT consulting business.

 

The move is reportedly aimed at rebuilding its IT consulting business.

 

The acquisition will bring PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada 180 new employees from MTS Allstream’s professional services consulting group, including those specializing in enterprise apps, IT management, systems integration and project management.

 

In 2002, IBM (News - Alert) Corp. paid $3.5 billion to buy up PwC Consulting and its 30,000 consulting professionals. The massive acquisition also came with a five-year non-compete clause, which ended in 2007.

 

Nigel Wallis, a research director for IDC (News - Alert) Canada Ltd., told news sources with the non-compete agreements now expired, PwC’s global subsidiaries are working to slowly rebuild its consulting business through acquisitions.

 

“This isn’t the first time PwC at a worldwide level has done a deal like this,” he said, referring to PwC’s U.S. firm and its purchase of some of BearingPoint Inc. in 2009.

 

This time around, Wallis added, PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada wants to build consulting services that complement its auditing, analytics and risk management work.

 

The transaction is expected to bring MTS Allstream, with a renewed focus on its core business offerings in unified communications and converged IP services.