Aricent Appoints Frank Kern as Chief Executive Officer

Aricent Group, the technology consultant controlled by buyout firms including KKR (KKR) & Co., named Frank Kern as chief executive officer to replace Sudip Nandy.

Kern, who retired as head of consulting and systems integration at International Business Machines Corp. this year, will take on the role at Aricent immediately, KKR said in an e- mailed statement today. Nandy will assume a newly created position as chairman of India, KKR said.

Aricent has more than 11,000 workers at 37 locations globally and clients such as Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), General Electric Co. and Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), according to the e-mail. Its products and services include telecommunication software and design and engineering for electronic-device makers, according to Aricent’s website.

Investors in Aricent include KKR, Sequoia Capital, Delta Partners and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, KKR’s e-mail said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Fenner in Melbourne at rfenner@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Tighe at mtighe4@bloomberg.net