TCS to acquire French enterprise software maker Alti for Rs533 crore

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's largest software exporter, today said that it would acquire French enterprise software maker Alti SA for €75 million (Rs533 crore) in cash.

Owned by its management and two private equity funds, CM-CIC LBO Partners and IDI, Alti is one of the top five system integrators of enterprise solutions in France with a strong expertise solutions, assurance and CRM solutions.

Its key customers comprise several top French corporations in the banking, financial services, luxury, manufacturing and utilities sectors.

With 1,200 employees based in France, Belgium and Switzerland, has grown from a revenue base of €64 million in 2007 to €126 million in 2012.

Mumbai-based TCS said that the acquisition will transform it into a major player in France, the third-largest IT services market in Europe and strengthen its ability and footprint to service its customers in France and other regions in Europe.

Assessed at over €30 billion, the French IT services market is the largest in Europe, after the UK and Germany. TCS has been operating in France since 1992 and has over 50 clients in the country, including several of the CAC 40.

N Chandrasekaran, CEO and managing director at TCS, said, ''This acquisition underlines our long-term, strategic commitment to France, which is the third-largest IT services market in Europe. The acquisition of Alti SA will help us serve our clients in France and across Europe more comprehensively with an expanded set of services and solutions, bringing the best of TCS to French corporations. I am confident that this acquisition will help us accelerate our growth and presence in France.''

Andre Bensimon, co-founder, Alti SA, said, ''This is a significant step that will benefit both our clients and employees. Supplementing our current services with TCS' renowned global expertise will provide tremendous additional value to our clients; while our employees will secure the advantages of building their careers in a larger global organization, which is considered a top employer in Europe. ''

TCS had been rated earlier this year as a ''BIG 4'' brand in the global IT services industry, as a leader in customer satisfaction across various surveys and recognized as the #1 ranked top employer in Europe by the CRF Institute.

"TCS views Europe as a significant opportunity and we have said that we continue to look for opportunities to strengthen our presence in Europe ... in markets like France and Germany and other markets," Chandrasekaran said in an interview with NDTV.

"In a market like France, frontend skills are important... strong local presence is critical. We will have 1,200 people joining us who will give us strong presence, analysis skills and tech skills," he said.

''Alti SA is a profitable company and we expect to conclude the closure by the end of this quarter and the consolidation will begin from the second quarter of this year.''

TCS will have access to a ''fantastic'' client base, most of them CAC 40 clients, spread across financial services, utilities, pharmaceuticals, and retail - sectors where TCS has strong solutions and capabilities, Chandrasekaran said. CAC 40 is the most tracked equity benchmark of France.

 Alti SA has strong skill sets is enterprise solutions, business analytics and tech services, he said.

India's leading IT firms are looking to reduce their reliance on Britain as they expand in Europe. European companies are also seen as increasingly open to sending IT work to centres in India as it can help them cut IT costs by as much as 70 per cent.

Listed on the National and Bombay Stock Exchanges, TCS, a part of the Tata Group, is one of India's most valuable companies and is the largest IT services company in the country by revenues.

It has over 263,000 employees working in 44 countries and posted revenues of $10.17 billion last year.