TCS to acquire French IT services firm Alti for over Rs 530 cr

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will acquire France-based enterprise solutions provider Alti SA for 75 million Euros (about Rs 533 crore) in an all-cash deal.

Alti SA is a leading French technology services firm with expertise in IT services including Enterprise Solutions, Assurance and CRM solutions. It has 1,200 employees based in France, Belgium and Switzerland.

The acquisition will help transform TCS into a major player in France and provide the firm access to blue-chip French and European clients in banking, luxury, manufacturing and utilities sectors.

TCS in a release said "...it has signed definitive agreements for the acquisition of 100 per cent equity shares in Alti SA, an IT services company in France, for a value of 75 million euro in an all-cash transaction."

The acquisition will strengthen TCS's ability and footprint to service its customers in France and other regions in Europe, the release said. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, it added.

Assessed at over 30 billion euro, the France 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.

"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," TCS Managing Director and CEO N Chandrasekaran said.

Alti SA is a privately-held company owned by its management and two private equity funds, CM-CIC LBO Partners and IDI, which supported its growth from a revenue base of 64 million euro in 2007 to 126 million euro in 2012.

Regarded as one of the top five system integrators of enterprise solutions in France, Alti's key customers comprise several top French corporations in the banking, financial services, luxury, manufacturing and utilities sectors.

Shares of TCS were trading 1.28 per cent higher at Rs 1500 in afternoon trading at the Bombay Stock Exchange.

With inputs from PTI