ARMONK, N.Y., Aug 2: International Business Machines Corp. made its largest acquisition ever, saying it would buy PriceWaterhouseCoopers Consulting for $3.5 billion in cash and stock.

The purchase is aimed at boosting slowing revenues in the computer giant’s large services business, which now accounts for more revenue than its well-known computers and mainframes.

Armonk, New York-based IBM is paying only a fraction of what its competitor Hewlett-Packard Co. had bid in 2000 for the unit — $18 billion. HP later pulled out of those talks and PriceWaterhouseCoopers said at the time it would carry on with its plan to split itself in two.

Under that plan, PriceWaterhouseCoopers had initially hoped to raise as much as $7.5 billion to $9 billion, but its value has since dropped considerably with the tumbling stock market.

It also marks the first major acquisition under IBM’s new Chief Executive Samuel Palmisano.—Reuters