Despite the move, ADP will still be strategic partners to the Canary Wharf financial printing firm. The MBO will cover CGIs divisions in Europe and Asia. Peter Furlonge will head up the company as chairman.

ADP bought CGI in 2000 but has accepted the MBO in order to concentrate on its domestic business.

We have severed links in terms of ownership and the MBO will give us the opportunity to expand our services for financial services and corporate clients, said CGI chief executive John Croft.

He denied that an uncertain economic outlook for the industry meant that it was a bad time to stage an MBO, believing the market had already bottomed out.

Everyone has had a rough ride over the past two years. I am not expecting it to bounce back to where it was a few years back but we do feel we have taken over at a time when we can increase our market share, said Croft.

CGI Group employs 230 staff worldwide and has sales figures in the region of 21m.

Story by Philip Chadwick