French IT firm Atos completes $1-bn Xerox ITO acquisition

French IT services major Atos SE has completed the acquisition of Xerox ITO, the information technology outsourcing business of US digital printing equipment giant Xerox Corp for $966 million, reinforcing its position as a global leader in digital services.

The net price consists of $950 million for the purchase and an additional $50 million following the occurrence of certain events prior to closing, plus $100 million in tax benefits minus net debt and adjustments of $134 million.

With the deal, Atos has entered into a worldwide strategic collaboration with Xerox and becomes one of Xerox's primary IT services providers.

Commenting on the closing of the deal, Atos chairman and CEO Thierry Breton said, "Today marks a major step in the development of the Atos Group, as we welcome 9,600 Xerox ITO employees to Atos.''

''With the US now our largest market, we have a stronger and more balanced global presence, which combined with our digital skills, allows us to be the trusted partner for our clients' digital journey anywhere in the world," Breton further stated.

The acquisition of Xerox ITO was announced in December 2014. (See: Xerox to sell ITO arm to French IT services company Atos for $1.05 bn).

With the acquisition, Atos will leverage the Xerox ITO customer-centric approach and Atos' industrial capacities and portfolio of cutting-edge services and technologies, particularly in cloud, big data, cyber-security, and in high power computing to support clients handle the massive volumes of data generated in the digital world, the company said.

Headquartered Bezons, in the suburbs of Paris, Altos is a leader in digital services with annual revenue of over $12 billion.

The Group provides consulting and systems integration services, managed services & BPO, cloud operations, big data & cyber-security solutions to clients across diverse industrial sectors in 72 countries and have around 93,000 employees.

Atos operates under the brands Atos, Atos Consulting, Atos Worldgrid, Bull, Canopy, and Worldline.

With annual revenue of around $2 billion, North America becomes the largest market for Atos, where it is currently ranked number 9 in ITO services.

A fortnight ago, Altos opened its new facility in Vadodara, India and said that it plans to recruit 700 to 1,000 employees over the next 12 months.