MANILA, Philippines--LogicaCMG has said it is planning to increase its workforce in the Philippines following key acquisitions meant to expand its market in Europe.

The London-based company acquired Unilog, Edinfor and WM-Data, each catering to BPO (business process outsourcing) in different countries in Europe, said Jonathan Snowball, LogicaCMG global business development director.

The company will also change its name to Logica (officially starting on February 27) to unify its operations under a single brand, added Snowball, who is based in the UK and visited Manila last week.

"There is a huge opportunity in Europe," Snowball said in an interview. "These acquisitions increase our local market presence in countries like Sweden, Denmark, Finland and France.

LogicaCMG's expansion also has a direct effect on its business in the Philippines. Since it opened a local office in 2006, the company has built a workforce of around 220 Filipinos, primarily doing application development and maintenance work for SAP clients in Europe.

"From IT outsourcing, we will be expanding into more back-office work like HR (human resources) and finance and accounting," he said.

The company plans to beef up its workforce in the country to at least 1,000 employees within the year, Snowball said.