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Atos Origin Acquisition of SchlumbergerSema; Creating a European IT Leader and World Player.


Business Editors

PARIS Paris, in Greek mythology
Paris or Alexander, in Greek mythology, son of Priam and Hecuba and brother of Hector. Because it was prophesied that he would cause the destruction of Troy, Paris was abandoned on Mt.
 & AMSTERDAM, Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 22, 2003

Atos Origin Atos Origin, SA (Euronext: ATO) is an international IT corporation which operates in 40 countries worldwide, with over 50,000 employees.

The corporate headquarters are located in Paris, France and Zaventem, Belgium.
 today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire the core IT services activities of SchlumbergerSema from Schlumberger.

The agreement, which is expected to be completed no later than January 2004, is subject to regulatory approvals and approval by the shareholders of Atos Origin. The transaction will create one of the leading global IT services companies, with combined annual revenues in excess of EUR EUR

In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Euro.

Notes:
The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion.
 5 billion.

Highlights of the deal are as follows:

-- Creating a global organization with annual revenues of more

than EUR 5 billion

-- A combined workforce of 50,000 staff operating in 50 countries

-- The new group will have a major presence in the critical UK

market

-- Together with a strong foothold in all key European markets.

-- Reinforced presence in Outsourcing and Public Sector

Atos Origin and SchlumbergerSema have complementary geographic operations and key competencies, and the deal will strengthen the new company's offerings to its extended base of clients.

Business Rationale

Atos Origin's primary strategy is to establish a strong and balanced presence in all of the major IT spending markets of Europe, in order to be able to provide comprehensive IT support services support services Psychology Non-health care-related ancillary services–eg, transportation, financial aid, support groups, homemaker services, respite services, and other services  for its multinational client base. The acquisition of SchlumbergerSema creates an organization with a leading presence in the IT services markets in France, Benelux, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy and Atos Origin remains intent on achieving critical mass in the Central Europe Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. In addition, Northern, Southern and Southeastern Europe may variously delimit or overlap into Central Europe.  region. The deal complements Atos Origin's strategy of providing extended support operations for its multinational clients in The Americas and Asia Pacific.

Financial Structure

As consideration for the purchase of SchlumbergerSema, Atos Origin will deliver 19.3 million shares to Schlumberger including 0.3 million treasury shares, representing 28.9% of the outstanding capital of the combined group, together with EUR 400 million in cash. The transaction, based on the volume weighted average price of Atos Origin shares for the 20 days preceding September 19th, 2003 (EUR 45.9), values the purchase consideration at EUR 1,287 million.

Subsequent to closing, Schlumberger intends to reduce its shareholding in Atos Origin to 19%, which will improve Atos Origin's free float Free float

An exchange rate system characterized by the absence of government intervention. Also known as clean float.
 and stock liquidity.

As a result of this transaction Philips' shareholding will be diluted from 44.7% to 32.0%

Benefits of the Deal and Funding Structure

Schlumberger has agreed in principle to enter into an IT services agreement with Atos Origin with minimum revenues of US$700 million, subject to final agreement on pricing and service levels.

During the remainder of 2003, SchlumbergerSema's existing restructuring plans will be accelerated. Atos Origin intends to execute its merger plans rapidly, thereby achieving incremental top line growth, organizational streamlining and significant cost synergies. Cost savings in excess of EUR 200 million per annum Per annum

Yearly.
 are expected to accrue within two years and the deal will be accretive to earnings in 2004, before the costs of restructuring and goodwill amortization.

At the completion of this deal, Atos Origin expects to have net debt of approximately EUR 750 million, representing a gearing level of around 50%. The group has negotiated a new syndicated loan Syndicated Loan

A very large loan in which a group of banks work together to provide funds for one borrower. There is usually one lead bank that takes a small percentage of the loan and syndicates the rest to other banks.

Notes:
Also known as a "syndicated bank facility.
 facility for EUR 900 million with three major banks, which will provide adequate funding for the group's foreseeable needs. It is the group's intention to divest a number of non-strategic assets during 2004, which will enhance the group's strong operational cash flow.

Management

Following shareholder and regulatory approvals, the new group will be led by Bernard Bourigeaud, Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer. The composition and responsibilities of the new Management Board, which will take effect at closing, will be as follows:


Bernard Bourigeaud      Chief Executive Officer

Xavier Flinois          UK, The Americas and Asia Pacific
                        Coordinating Global Markets & Key
                        Accounts/Olympics

Dominique Illien        France and Central Europe
                        Coordinating Managed Operations, AtosEuronext
                        & Worldline

Wilbert Kieboom         Benelux/ICA and Scandinavia
                        Coordinating Consulting and Systems
                        Integration

Giovanni Linari         Italy, Spain, Middle East and Africa

Eric Guilhou            Chief Financial Officer

Jans Tielman            Human Resources and Communication



Once we have shareholders and regulatory approvals, an integrated sales organization will be prepared in outline and plans will be determined for Atos Origin's large accounts program to be extended to integrate the major clients of SchlumbergerSema. The merged group is expected to be fully operational in January 2004 and will trade as Atos Origin.

An Exciting Venture

Bernard Bourigeaud, Atos Origin's Chief Executive commented:

"This transaction provides Atos Origin with critical mass in almost all of the major IT spending markets of Europe, together with strong extended support coverage on a global basis. This is absolutely essential if we are to provide our clients with effective support and have the capacity and flexibility to win major new clients.

The global IT services industry is going through an important phase of consolidation and Atos Origin intends to be at the forefront of this structural change. We are acquiring excellent management at SchlumbergerSema and fresh opportunities to drive top line and cost synergies. We will continue to execute our strategy and I am confident that the integration of our two companies will be a great success.

We are pleased and proud to welcome SchlumbergerSema staff worldwide. SchlumbergerSema is widely recognized for its competence and innovative technology, which will be of enormous value to our expanded client base."

About Atos Origin

Atos Origin is an international information technology services provider. Its business is turning client vision into results through the application of consulting, systems integration and managed operations, including outsourcing and on-line services. In August 2002, Atos Origin acquired KPMG KPMG Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (accounting firm)
KPMG Kaiser Permanente Medical Group
KPMG Keiner Prüft Mehr Genau (German)
KPMG Kommen Prüfen Meckern Gehen
 Consulting in the UK and The Netherlands, trading as Atos KPMG Consulting. The company currently generates annual revenues of EUR 3 billion and employs 28,000 staff in 30 countries. The Group's client list includes major companies such as ABN AMRO ABN AMRO Algemene Bank Nederland-Amsterdam Roterdam Bank (Dutch bank) , Akzo-Nobel, Alstom, BNP Paribas BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP, TYO: 8665 ) is one of the main banks in Europe and France. It was created on 23 May 2000 through the merger of Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) and Paribas. , BP, Euronext, Fiat, ICI (language) ICI - An extensible, interpretated language by Tim Long with syntax similar to C. ICI adds high-level garbage-collected associative data structures, exception handling, sets, regular expressions, and dynamic arrays. , ING, KPN KPN Koninklijke PTT Nederland (Royal Dutch Telecom)
KPN Konfederacja Polski Niepodleglej (Polish conservative party) 
, Lucent, Philips, Renault, Royal Bank of Scotland
This article deals with the retail bank. "Royal Bank of Scotland" can also refer to its holding company: Royal Bank of Scotland Group."


The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (Scottish Gaelic: Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba
, Saudi Aramco Saudi Aramco, the state-owned national oil company of Saudi Arabia, is the largest oil corporation in the world and the world's largest in terms of proven crude oil reserves and production. , Shell, UBS UBS Union Bank of Switzerland
UBS United Bible Societies
UBS United Blood Services
UBS United Buying Service
UBS Used Bookstore
UBS University Business Services
UBS Universal Building Society (UK)
UBS Ulaanbaatar Broadcasting System
 Warburg, Unilever, Vivendi Universal, Vodafone and Wolters Kluwer.

For more information, please visit the company's web site at http://www.atosorigin.com

About Schlumberger

Schlumberger is a global oilfield and information services See Information Systems.  company with major activity in the energy industry. The company employs 78,000 people of more than 140 nationalities working in 100 countries and comprises three primary business segments. Schlumberger Oilfield Services Schlumberger Oilfield Services, a division of Schlumberger Limited, is the world’s largest supplier of exploration and production (E&P) services, solutions and technology to the international petroleum industry.  is the world's premier oilfield services company supplying a wide range of technology services and solutions to the international oil and gas industry. WesternGeco, jointly owned with Baker Hughes, is the world's largest and most advanced surface seismic company. SchlumbergerSema is a leading supplier of IT consulting, systems integration, and network and infrastructure services and employs approximately 22,000 staff in more than 40 countries. In 2002, Schlumberger operating revenue operating revenue

Revenue from any regular source. Revenue from sales is adjusted for discounts and returns when calculating operating revenue. Compare other revenue.
 was $13.2 billion of which SchlumbergerSema generated just under $3 billion. The activities being acquired by Atos currently produce annual revenues of approximately $2.6 billion. For more information, visit slb.com.
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Copyright 2003, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Publication:Business Wire
Date:Sep 22, 2003
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