Atos SE, a French multinational information technology services corporation, plans to acquire Norwalk-based Xerox Corp.’s IT outsourcing business for $1.05 billion.
The companies in a joint announcement Thursday said the transaction would allow Xerox to better support its clients and Atos to drastically increase its U.S. business. Company officials also said the transaction would enable collaboration that draws upon Atos”™ ITO capabilities and Xerox”™s business process outsourcing and document outsourcing expertise. Atos would provide IT services to Xerox under the deal.
With an estimated 2014 revenue of $1.5 billion, Xerox’s ITO business employs nearly 9,800 people in 45 countries, with 4,500 in the U.S. The Xerox ITO leadership team would also join Atos.
“Atos is a company with whom we’ve had a long relationship in several capacities,” said Ursula Burns, Xerox’s chairwoman and CEO, in the announcement. “Selling the ITO business to Atos gives our clients around the global an expanded world-class suite of IT capabilities that complement Xerox’s industry leading BPO and document outsourcing solutions.”
She said the transaction is another step in Xerox’s portfolio management strategy and increases the company’s focus on areas where it can deliver the most value and expertise to its clients.
Atos would nearly triple its U.S. footprint and gain access to a “pool of talented and highly skilled technologists,” said Thierry Breton, chairman and CEO of Atos.
The intended transaction, which received unanimous support from Atos’ and Xerox’s boards of directors, is expected to close in the first half of 2015.
