Following a Reuters news release, European IT services vendor Atos confirmed it had submitted to the Board of DXC an unsolicited non-binding offer to acquire the firm. The offer is at a preliminary stage. Reuters estimated Atos’ offer to USD 10bn.

Following a Reuters news release, European IT services vendor Atos confirmed it had submitted to the Board of DXC an unsolicited non-binding offer to acquire the firm. The offer is at a preliminary stage. Reuters estimated Atos’ offer to USD 10bn.
Jacobs surprised us with its intention to acquire a 65% stake in PA Consulting for USD 1.8bn (enterprise value of the stake). For those of us that have been in the industry, we know that consulting acquisitions can be risky. Think of EDS and AT Kearney, Capgemini and Ernst & Young Consulting, or IBM and PwC Consulting.
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Globallogics made an acquisition in IT services with ECS. ECS brings precious digital capabilities including cloud and agile/DevOps.
Alten is to make its largest acquisition, with Milan-headquartered SDG Group. SDG has revenues of EUR 76m and a headcount of 950. Its operating margin is ~10%. We estimate the price paid by Alten to ~EUR 60m.
We think Sweco has all options open for significant M&A activity. It has been five years since Sweco acquired Grontmij, bringing 6,000 employees and revenues of EUR 659m.
Accenture made another acquisition for its Industry X unit. Salt Solutions is based in Würzburg, 80 miles away from Frankfurt, in Germany. It, also, has offices in Stuttgart, Dresden, and Munich. Salt is SAP-centric with a specialization in SCM and also capabilities around production systems, all around SAP.
The Stock Market meltdown resulted in an unexpected outcome: Capgemini secured 98.2% of the shares of Altran, with investors rushing to get EUR 14.5 per Altran share. Capgemini will now launch a squeeze-out procedure.
Akka has launched a mandatory offer for Data Respons (DR) that will provide shareholders the opportunity to sell their DR shares. The company has been active on the stock markets since the end of its tender offer on February 13, raising its stake from 72.9% to 78.1%. Akka is hoping to reach 95% of shares and launch a squeeze-out offer later one.
The US Federal Reserve yesterday lowered “the target range for the federal funds” by 50 bps to 1%-1.25%. Although the “fundamentals of the US economy remain strong,” “the coronavirus poses evolving risks to economic activity,” communicated the Fed.
After its unexpected revenue growth slowdown in Q4, Akka suffered from a disappointing result: it secured only 64% of the shares of Data Repons. Akka has received regulatory clearance from the German cartel office authority, so now has control over Data Response.
Capgemini has succeeded with its offer to purchase Altran. The company has secured 53.4% of Altran’s capital. According to France’s financial market’s authority, Capgemini will reopen the tend offer from January 28 to February 10.
Capgemini modestly increased its tender offer for Altran by 3.6%, from €14.0 to €14.5 per share.
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The Paris Court of Appeals rejected this morning ADAM’s request for suspension of the Capgemini tender offer for Altran’s shares.
We don’t usually comment on the financial performance of ER&D service vendors beyond their financials. But this time, this is a little bit different: Akka Technologies raised yesterday EUR 175m in convertible bonds, a significant amount for Akka, which has a market cap of EUR ~EUR 1.2bn.
Capgemini’s acquisition of Altran will be delayed by up to six months. Edge Fund Elliott has, through intermediaries, brought, the case to court. The initial ruling on December 4 will decide if the acquisition will be suspended. A final ruling will occur by end of the March at the latest.
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Capgemini’s proposition of Altran for EUR 14 per share is getting more complicated.
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Jacobs Engineering, a US infrastructure giant, is to acquire the nuclear engineering business of (another infrastructure giant in the UK) Wood. Jacobs is paying an enterprise value of USD 300m.
PSA finalized its outsourcing contract with Segula, almost one year after it was announced. Looking at the details, the scope of the contract is much smaller than expected, with the people transfer initially involving 700 employees, rather than the 2,000 expected. Segula has agreed to take over the new engineers and guaranteed similar wages and benefits and also purchasing buildings and facilities.
Still aiming to take control of Altran, Capgemini is open to show flexibility in its ownership structure. The company targets at least 50.1% of the shares of Altran and will accommodate large minority shareholders.
NelsonHall has posted an analysis of the Capgemini acquisition of Altran. NelsonHall is taking a Capgemini and IT services perspective, whereas, in this blog, we have made comments with our ER&D lenses. Enjoy.
HCL Tech has closed the acquisition of several IBM products. The company has now ownership of AppScan, BigFix, Commerce, Connections, Digital Experience (Portal and Content Manager), Notes Domino, and Unica. We assume the price of the transaction has not changed and still is USD 1.8bn.