Atos Origin Buys Venture Infotek

August 30, 2010

Atos Origin is buying Venture Infotek, an independent player in the Indian payments market.

Created in 1991, Venture Infotek operates in merchant acquiring, card processing, loyalty programs, government benefits programs on behalf of the Indian banks and major retailers. Venture Infotek operates in the major cities of India. Atos Origin has been convinced by the entrepreneurial spirit of Venture Infotek, by the quality of its technology platforms and by the portfolio of its existing customers.

The company expects revenue of EUR 30 million for 2011. The annual average growth rate was 25 per cent over the last three years. The company employs almost 500 staff.

This acquisition represents for Atos Origin a unique opportunity to enter one of the world’s fastest-growing payments markets. The Indian payments industry has shown and will continue to show high growth with many strong drivers:

The dynamics of the Indian economy will generate a significant increase in the number of payments transactions;
One of the largest banking systems in the world with 60,000 bank branches serving 400 million people, with penetration rates still low for banking cards;
A strong Government focus to reduce the cash economy and establish card usage;
Significant improvements in infrastructure and interconnectivity and an increasing number of ATMs and terminals.

Venture Infotek is ideally positioned to participate in the growth of the payments market in India with circa 35 per cent market share, a strong and experienced local management team, and being the only player in India with multiple clients in that market (6 out of the top 10 Indian banks have been customers of the company for many years).

The company will be integrated in to Atos Wordline, the specialised entity of Atos Origin in Hi-Tech Transactional Services (HTTS) and electronic payments in order to optimise the synergies particularly for the portfolio of offerings.

This transaction is fully in line with the strategy of the Group to grow its HTTS activities and to realise acquisitions in the payments area. Atos Origin is acquiring a company in its core business located in a country where the Group is already working with large customers, and employs 4,000 staff including specialised teams in payments solutions. Venture Infotek will reinforce the Group solutions and teams for payments in Asia, as Atos Origin systems are already used by a large number of leading banks in China and in other south-east Asian countries such as Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan or the Philippines.

The acquisition consideration was 100 per cent cash on closing and was financed through existing credit lines. The transaction is expected to be accretive from the first year with a fast growing impact in the following years. The Group followed its criteria for acquisitions which are the value of the asset, the synergies with the Group and in accordance with its financial capacities and prudent financial discipline.