New Delhi, Nov 5 (IANS): Global skills and talent development corporation NIIT Ltd on Saturday announced it has acquired US-based St. Charles Consulting Group for $23.4 million.

Headquartered in St. Charles, Illinois, St. Charles Consulting Group is a leading provider of consulting, design, and implementation solutions for strategic learning programmes to professional services firms and Fortune 500 companies.

The acquisition will help NIIT add significant presence in the professional services and management consulting sectors while strengthening its growing learning consulting practice.

"St Charles Consulting Group brings deep expertise and experience in building strategic learning programs which are in high demand across our customer base," said Sapnesh Lalla, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, NIIT Limited.

St. Charles Consulting Group has a network of over 500 premier management consultants in the fields of learning, organization development, knowledge services, and workforce planning.

NIIT said that there is a significant growth opportunity for St. Charles Consulting Group's business going forward and expects the transaction to be margin and EPS accretive from the first year.

"The acquisition of St. Charles Consulting Group will give our customers access to an expanded capability of consulting, designing, and implementing strategic learning programme," said DJ Chadha, Chief Customer Officer, NIIT Ltd.

"As a result of the current business climate, St. Charles has experienced incredible growth over the last few years, helping our clients in this new frontier of learning," Chadha added.