"Atos Origin sells its US Energy Management operations"
Atos Origin has signed a sale and purchase agreement under which it has sold its Energy Management operations in North America (Cellnet) to GTCR, a private equity house.
As part of the acquisition of Sema Group in January 2004, Atos Origin acquired a US business called Cellnet, sometimes referred to as Real Time Energy Management. Cellnet’s proprietary technology enables utility companies to monitor energy consumption in real time. The operations include the reading of electricity, gas and water meters by radio frequency, using a series of data transmitters, receivers and transceivers placed at fixed locations throughout relevant cities. The revenues expected from this activity in 2004 were approximately US$ 150 million and the business employs around 400 staff.
Consideration for the sale will be at least US$ 175 million but may be higher, subject to satisfying working capital and other financial conditions. The disposal proceeds will be used to reduce borrowings and any profit or loss on disposal, net of tax, will be treated as an adjustment to the Sema acquisition goodwill in the results for the six months ended June 30th, 2004. This divestment will materially improve the Group’s return on investment and other key performance indicators.
At the time of announcing the acquisition of Sema Group in September 2003, Atos Origin indicated that it intends to dispose of low margin and non-core businesses with annual revenues of approximately EUR 500 million. The disposal of Cellnet was identified as such from the outset and is the first major divestment under that program.
At the end of June 2004 Atos Origin also completed the disposal of a low margin logistics consulting business in North America called Convergence, which had annual revenues of US$ 15 million. The sale consideration was US$ 5 million.
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About Atos Origin
Atos Origin is an international information technology services company. Its business is turning client vision into results through the application of consulting, systems integration and managed operations. The company’s annual revenues are more than EUR 5 billion and it employs 47,000 people in 50 countries. Atos Origin is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic Games and its clients include ABN AMRO, Akzo Nobel, Alstom, BNP Paribas, BP, Ericsson, EDF, Euronext, Fiat, France Telecom, ICI, ING, KPN, Lucent, Philips, Renault, Royal Bank of Scotland, Saudi Aramco, Schlumberger, Shell, Telecom Italia, UBS, UK Department of Works and Pensions, Unilever, Vivendi Universal and Vodafone.
Atos Origin is quoted on the Paris Euronext Premier Marché and trades as Atos Origin, AtosEuronext, Atos Odyssée, Atos KPMG Consulting and Atos Worldline.
Contact for Press:
Marie-Tatiana Collombert
Tel: +33 (0) 1 55 91 26 33
marie-tatiana.collombert@atosorigin.com
Contact for Investors:
John White
Tel: +33 (0) 1 55 91 26 32
john.white@atosorigin.com
About GTCR Golder Rauner, LLC (GTCR)
Founded in 1980, GTCR Golder Rauner, LLC is a leading private equity investment firm and long-term strategic partner for outstanding management teams. The Chicago-based firm pioneered the investment strategy of identifying and partnering with exceptional executives to acquire and build companies through a combination of acquisitions and strong internal growth. GTCR currently manages more than US$ 6 billion of equity capital invested in a wide range of companies and industries. More information about GTCR can be found at www.gtcr.com.
