"Atos to acquire Unify from Gores and Siemens"
Atos, The Gores Group and Siemens have reached an agreement for Atos to acquire Unify, the number three world leader of integrated communication solutions. With this acquisition Atos intends to create a unique integrated proposition for unified communications and real time capabilities enhancing social collaboration, digital transformation, and business performance of its clients. The transaction is subject to employee representative’s bodies’ information and consultation and the approvals of the regulatory and antitrust authorities. Closing is expected in the first calendar quarter of 2016.
Thierry Breton, Chairman and CEO of Atos said: “The contemplated acquisition of Unify will increase our offerings for the digital transformation for our customers. They are looking for seamless services solutions for their entire digital portfolio and a reliable partner that can service their needs end-to-end. Unify portfolio and customer base is a perfect match that uniquely complements existing Atos digital capabilities”.
Alec Gores, Chairman and CEO of The Gores Group, stated, “Since the start of our joint venture with Siemens AG, we embarked on a transformation plan focused on operational excellence and meeting the needs of our global customers. Together we invested in innovation, rebranded the company, recruited an impressive management team, and transitioned the business to a channel-driven, software-first company.” Gores added, “We believe Unify is well positioned to take the business to new levels of success and performance with the support of its new shareholder.”
Joe Kaeser, President and CEO of Siemens AG, said: “I am convinced that Atos is the perfect solution for a sustainable future of Unify and its customers. Atos is a proven and a trustful partner and a specialist for successful integration of acquisitions. At the same time, we are diligently executing on our Vision 2020, focusing our business and position Siemens along the value chain of electrification, automation and digitalization.”
Founded in 2008 as Siemens Enterprise Communication and headquartered in Munich (Germany), Unify is a joint venture between The Gores Group (51%) and Siemens (49%), active mainly in Europe and in the Americas. Unify provides end-to-end communications software and services enhancing social collaboration, digital transformation and business performance, through vertical specialized solutions. With 5600 employees and active in over 60 countries, Unify today generates €1.2 billion revenue. ,
New services for the digital age
Together with Unify, Atos would bridge the gap between communication and IT services. Unify is recognized by Industry analysts as “leader” in corporate telephony and “visionary” for unified communications. Leveraging over 3,000 patents, Unify technologies would expand Atos’ digital transformation offerings.
In particular, Unify developed “Circuit”, a category defining communication solution, the first of its kind enabled by the new Web RTC. It provides with HD audio and video quality amazing seamless channel/device movement, powerful and contextual search, social collaboration, content storage, contact integration with other systems (e.g. LinkedIn, Outlook) with a simple single application and user interface as opposed to most existing solutions. This convinced Siemens deciding for Unify against competition and to become the first enterprise customer to use Unify Circuit on a large scale.
Contact for journalists
Atos SE
Caroline Crouch, phone: +44 77 33 310086
E-mail: caroline.crouch@atos.net
The Gores Group
Jennifer Kwon Chou, phone: +1 310 824-8050
E-mail: jchou@gores.com
Siemens AG
Wolfram Trost, phone: +49 89 636-34794
E-mail: wolfram.trost@siemens.com
Atos SE (Societas Europaea) is a leader in digital services with 2014 pro forma annual revenue of circa € 11 billion and 93,000 employees in 72 countries. Serving a global client base, the Group provides Consulting & Systems Integration services, Managed Services & BPO, Cloud operations, Big Data & Cyber-security solutions, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry. With its deep technology expertise and industry knowledge, the Group works with clients across different business sectors: Defense, Financial Services, Health, Manufacturing, Media, Utilities, Public sector, Retail, Telecommunications, and Transportation. Atos is focused on business technology that powers progress and helps organizations to create their firm of the future. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and is listed on the Euronext Paris market. Atos operates under the brands Atos, Atos Consulting, Atos Worldgrid, Bull, Canopy, and Worldline.
The Gores Group, founded in 1987 by Alec Gores, is a global investment firm focused on acquiring controlling interests in mature and growing businesses which can benefit from the firm’s operating experience and flexible capital base. The firm combines the operational expertise and detailed due diligence capabilities of a strategic buyer with the seasoned M&A team of a traditional financial buyer. Over its 25 year history, The Gores Group has become a leading investor having demonstrated a reliable track record of creating value in its portfolio companies alongside management. Headquartered in Los Angeles, The Gores Group maintains offices in Boulder, CO, and London. For more information, please visit www.gores.com.
Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 165 years. The company is active in more than 200 countries, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is No. 1 in offshore wind turbine construction, a leading supplier of gas and steam turbines for power generation, a major provider of power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment – such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2014, which ended on September 30, 2014, Siemens generated revenue from continuing operations of €71.9 billion and net income of €5.5 billion. At the end of September 2014, the company had around 343,000 employees worldwide on a continuing basis. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.
This document contains statements related to our future business and financial performance and future events or developments involving Siemens that may constitute forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by words such as “expect,” “look forward to,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “seek,” “estimate,” “will,” “project” or words of similar meaning. We may also make forward-looking statements in other reports, in presentations, in material delivered to shareholders and in press releases. In addition, our representatives may from time to time make oral forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on the current expectations and certain assumptions of Siemens’ management, of which many are beyond Siemens’ control. These are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and factors, including, but not limited to those described in disclosures, in particular in the chapter Risks in the Annual Report. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying expectations not occur or assumptions prove incorrect, actual results, performance or achievements of Siemens may (negatively or positively) vary materially from those described explicitly or implicitly in the relevant forward-looking statement. Siemens neither intends, nor assumes any obligation, to update or revise these forward-looking statements in light of developments which differ from those anticipated.
