Capgemini Makes Two Acquisitions in France in High Growth Markets

Regulatory News:

Capgemini (Paris:CAP), one of the world’s foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, has announced its acquisition of two French companies, Artesys and Avantias. Artesys is one of the leaders in France in the conception of IT infrastructure solutions. Avantias specializes in the implementation of ECM (Enterprise Content Management)¹. These two moves will reinforce the Group’s positioning on two particularly dynamic markets in France, and will contribute significantly to its growth program. Capgemini will acquire a 100% stake in both companies. These acquisitions amount to a combined total of €40 million and will be financed by the Group’s net cash.

Both these acquisitions are aligned with the growth strategy of Capgemini’s global service lines:

• Infrastructure Transformation Services (ITS), at the core of Capgemini’s new Infrastructure Services Strategic Business Unit (SBU), aims to help both private and public organizations draw full benefit from cloud computing while streamlining their costs. The infrastructure services market in France is estimated at close to €9.4 billion for 2011 with average growth of 5% between 2010 and 2014².
• Business Information Management (BIM), whose mission is to manage and optimize the information assets of organizations to help them achieve their strategic objectives. Total software revenues in the global ECM market, in particular, should grow at a compound annual rate of 10.1% through 2014³, and exceed $5.7 billion by this date.

For Paul Hermelin, Chief Executive Officer of the Capgemini Group: "It is important that we invest in the French market, which represents more than 22% of Group revenues, and which is gradually seeing a return to growth. These two acquisitions, which are fully aligned with our strategy, position us well in terms of high added value offerings, and enable us to accompany organizations throughout the whole value chain. Our ambition is particularly to become a global player in cloud computing on the French market. We are also planning on recruiting over 4,500 new hires in France this year, which will contribute to the Group’s growth in what is one of its more traditional markets.”

Acquisition of Artesys:
With the acquisition of Artesys, Capgemini will offer a complete portfolio in infrastructure transformation expertise in France. The acquisition will allow it to cover the entire infrastructure lifecycle, from conception to implementation, including the adoption of various cloud computing models to respond to IT directors’ desire to sustainably reduce costs while ensuring their IT systems more reactive to changing business needs.
Created in 2000, Artesys employs 131 people and its clients include large French companies particularly in the financial, industrial and public sectors. It has enjoyed strong growth for the past four years, with 2010 revenues amounting to €25 million.

For Eric Chenneveau, Chief Executive Officer of Artesys, who will take the reins of Capgemini’s ITS business in France: "We are very proud to be a part of Capgemini’s new ambition in the infrastructure services area. Artesys and Capgemini had already successfully built up a close relationship after working with mutual clients for whom Artesys implemented ITIL⁴ process tools.”

Acquisition of Avantias:
The acquisition of Avantias will allow the Group to reinforce its positioning in the areas of documentary management and editing⁵. These activities respond to the strong demand from organizations for improved efficiency in their information analysis, optimization and control processes as they are faced with an increasing volume of data and the need to comply with enhanced regulatory standards.
Created in 2006, Avantias employs 120 people and reported 2010 revenues of $13.6 million, up 34% over 2009. With offices in Paris and Rennes, New York, London and Oslo, the company proposes consulting and ECM solutions integration and maintenance for a wide client portfolio of large enterprises, particularly in the banking and insurance, telecommunications, and the public sectors.

For Philippe Franchet, Managing Director of Avantias, who will be responsible for the ECM offering within Capgemini France: "Joining a global Group like Capgemini is an extraordinary opportunity for us in a fast-growing market. The combination of the ECM teams from Avantias and from Capgemini will provide us with the strength and scope necessary to accompany the large ECM projects currently being developed.”

The combined operating margin of these two companies is comparable to that of the Capgemini Group.

N.B.: The acquisition of Avantias excludes Galigeo, a subsidiary specializing in geo-intelligence.

¹ L’ECM allows the management of an organization’s electronic information such as office documents, mail, numeric documents, images, technical documents, ...
² PAC: brochure: France 2010 - SITSI® Countries - Analysis & Trends by IT Services – August 2010
³ Gartner Inc.: "Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management,” Toby Bell, Karen M. Shegda, Mark R. Gilbert, Kenneth Chin, 16 November 2010 | ID:G00206900
⁴ ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library): set of works edited by the United Kingdom’s Office of Government Commerce on IT infrastructures which has become a professional reference, gathering best practices and concepts in IT services management.
⁵ An essential part of an IT system, editing refers to all processes, workflows, and IT tools designed for the conception, production and distribution of documents.