Following this announcement, the acquisition is set to represent an important step into Axway’s overall medium-term strategic roadmap, as it was outlined by officials of the company over the last few years, with the plan to develop a new enterprise software house with a critical scale.
Axway will continue to analyse the different strategic options that are open to the company in order to ensure its secure and efficient growth and profitability roadmap. The acquisition of most of Sopra Banking Software’s activities will provide Axway with the possibility to expand its product portfolio and continue its growth by capitalising on its overall recent performance.
Axway will acquire the SBS activities that are concerned by the operation for an enterprise value of EUR 330 million. The sum is subject to confirmatory due diligence and is expected to be reviewed by an independent expert.
Sopra Banking Software is a provider of banking and financial software and it is expected to benefit from the scale and overall experience of a global software structure that has already transitioned to a subscription-based business model. Axway and SBS already share a large part of their expertise and solutions, as they have a common set of values that were developed around an independent enterprise project and a commitment to sustainable and secure value creation for their stakeholders.
Through this process, multiple customers and clients can benefit from their suite of services and overall expertise, both enterprises focusing on meeting the needs, preferences, and demands of users in an ever-evolving market. If completed, the acquisition is expected to raise a new enterprise software house with critical scale, while also being able to meet banking application and integration needs with optimised firepower and visibility.
The SBS activities that are concerned by the operation generated a revenue of around EUR 340 million in 2023, which represented approximately 80% of the subsidiary’s total revenue. The acquisition is set to achieve revenue of around EUR 650 million. This will allow Axway to double its current revenue while remaining compliant with the requirements and laws of the industry.
Axway also intends to finance the contemplated transaction through the combination of a EUR 130 million capital, which will be increased with preferential subscription rights and new debt facilities for the balance. For this, Axway received a comfort letter from Société Générale and Groupe Crédit Agricole. Sopra GMT intends to subscribe to Axway’s capital increase on an irreducible basis to the extent of its rights and those that were acquired from Sopra Steria Group, which represents 53% of the planned capital increase.
The financial process of Sopra GMT undertakings will be carried out with One Equity Partners, which is expected to become a minority shareholder of the financial institutions, with advanced discussions with a conclusion to a binding agreement taking place underway as well.
The objective is set to close these operations before the end of Q2 2024 or during Q3 2024.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now