4i changes its offer and joins with S-Corp

London design consultancy 4i is relaunching itself as an e-commerce consultancy, the result of a planned equal merger with IT consultancy S-Corp.

The new group, which retains the 4i identity, will be formed from a share-swap deal which sees S-Corp taking a 45 per cent of the equity in the new business.

4i managing director Mark Norton becomes creative director, while S-Corp founder Stephen Izatt becomes managing director. Norton says there are will be no staff losses.

“We did some design projects with S-Corp and soon realised that there were quite a lot of syntheses between us,” says Norton. S-Corp will effectively take on the “back end” role of developing business systems, while the old 4i will create the branding and user interfaces.

The 30-strong company plans to take on more staff, with all employees being offered equity. It is also likely to find new premises.