IBM has beaten rival HP to acquire Swedish software firm Telelogic for £380m.

The board of the application lifecycle management company unanimously endorsed the offer to its shareholders, with chairman Bo Dimert saying it would ‘give Telelogic a greater opportunity to improve its growth globally’.

Analysts say the acquisition will deliver significant benefits to customers of both IT companies.

‘IBM has been missing a few key capabilities in its software development portfolio which the purchase of Telelogic plugs up quite nicely,’ said Ovum principal analyst Bola Rotibi.

‘In terms of culture and ethos, IBM and Telelogic have probably more in common than most of the others in the purchasing frame.’

Telelogic will be incorporated into IBM’s Rational Software division.

‘Telelogic’s strength has been in its Requirements Management product Doors, and now IBM will own possibly 60 per cent of the Requirements market, which is pretty formidable,’ said Rotibi.