IT services firm Atos Origin has signed a binding
agreement to buy the majority of rival SchlumbergerSema’s
businesses from parent company Schlumberger Limited for around
$1.5bn.
The deal, which is expected to close in January, comes as
Schlumberger Sema emerged as favourite to run the e-booking systems
at the heart of the National Programme for IT in the NHS, after the
programme dropped Fujistu from the running.
Richard Holway, chief executive at analyst
firm Ovum Holway, warned that integrating Sema and Atos Origin’s
systems and processes will be complex.
“Last month, we said that you shouldn't
acquire any company greater than 50% of your own size,” he said.
“It doesn't take a genius to work out that this deal spectacularly
fails this test. Computer Sciences was the front runner to buy SS
but couldn't agree on price - but this would have made much more
sense.”
Andrew Gould, chairman and chief executive
officer at Schlumberger Sema, said, “The global IT services
industry is going through an important phase of consolidation, and
the combination of the SchlumbergerSema IT businesses with Atos
Origin will create a leading European IT services company with
broad presence and competence across the world.
“Schlumberger will retain a number of specific
SchlumbergerSema businesses which include Business Continuity,
Infodata – a Swedish database company – and all software products
related to the SchlumbergerSema telecommunications activity.
These, together with smartcards, point-of-sale terminals, payment
systems, eCity terminals and payphones are being considered for
divestiture or IPO.”
The deal is subject to Atos Origin shareholder
approval, customary regulatory approvals, and the employee
information and consultation process.
SchlumbergerSema is heavily involved in
bidding for work in the £2.3bn NHS IT modernisation and its clients
include the Metropolitan Police. It also operates a standalone
telecoms billing systems business, which operates globally with
customers such as BT and Vodafone.