IT consulting firm Atos has completed the acquisition of Syntel Inc, a company headquartered in Michigan, with $924 million revenue in 2017 of which 89% is in North America, 25% operating margin, and 40% of its activities in digital, automation, and robotization. Syntel offers its customers high value-added digital services in several specific verticals such as Banking and Financial Services, Healthcare, Retail and Insurance.
Thierry Breton, Atos Chairman and CEO said: “Today marks a new major step in the development of the Group, as we welcome more than 23,000 Syntel employees to Atos. With this transaction, we take a new dimension to accelerate the digital transformation of our customers worldwide, while strongly reinforcing our Business & Platform Solutions activities with new clients in North America and a delivery platform from India with a consistent and competitive size to support our customers in their digitalization journeys. We worked extensively to be ready from day one post-closing and to ensure continued delivery of services to our clients while at the same time leveraging the combined strengths of the two Groups for profitable growth. In that regards, Syntel will operate as a dedicated unit named Atos Syntel within our Business & Platform Solutions Division”.
Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, announced on July 22, 2018, and approved by Syntel’s shareholders on October 1, 2018, Syntel today becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Atos. The purchase price of $3.4 billion and the repayment of Syntel’s outstanding debt for $0.3 billion was financed through debt fully underwritten by BNP Paribas and J.P. Morgan Securities PLC, whose syndication closed largely oversubscribed with a group of 25 banks. As a result of the acquisition, Syntel shares will cease trading and will be delisted from the NASDAQ.
The strong portfolio and complementary customer bases between the two companies will generate multiple cross-selling opportunities, leading to expected revenue synergies of c. $ 250 million by the end of 2021, with a 20% operating margin, half of them planned by the end of 2020. Atos will also benefit in particular from tangible operational improvement by taking advantage of Syntel’s current offshore, automation, and robotization capabilities. Cost synergies are planned to be generated in particular by applying Syntel’s best practices on the existing Atos Business & Platform Solutions operating model. The total cost benefits are estimated at $ 120 million per year on a run rate basis by the end of 2021 with a linear phasing.
The transaction is expected to be EPS accretive immediately with double-digit accretion as early as 2019 excluding the impact of PPA and transaction and implementation costs. Syntel will be consolidated into the Group financial statements as of November 1, 2018.
