QA Financial has been told that Paris-based Axway has entered into exclusive talks with the owner of Sopra Banking Software to acquire most of the latter’s operations.
A spokesman for the Sopra Steria Group, which owns Sopra Banking Software, confirmed that negotiations are underway.
“This acquisition would fit perfectly Axway’s medium-term strategic roadmap, as outlined by the company over the last few years, creating a new enterprise software house with critical scale,” he said.
The France-based spokesperson added that “the acquisition of most of SBS activities would represent a unique opportunity for Axway to expand its product portfolio and continue its development by capitalizing on its recent performance”.
He argued that SBS, would benefit from the scale and experience of a global software structure that is currently rapidly transitioning to a subscription-based business model.
The Axway spokesperson said his company intends to acquire the SBS activities for an enterprise value of €330m.
“Axway intends to finance the contemplated transaction through the combination of a €130m capital increase and new debt facilities for the balance, for which Axway has received a comfort letter from Société Générale and Groupe Crédit Agricole, two of its relationship banks,” he revealed.
Global player
Sopra Banking Software (SBS), also based in Paris, is a global financial technology company that serves banks and the financial services industry “to reimagine how to operate in an increasingly digital world,” as the company markets itself.
It currently works with around 650 financial institutions and large-scale lenders in 80 countries worldwide. Clients include Standard Bank, Santander, Société Generale and Rabobank.
SBS’ cloud platform offers a composable architecture to digitise operations, ranging from banking, lending, compliance, to payments, and consumer and asset finance.
“Our proposed acquisition represents an undeniable opportunity for both companies.” – Axway spokesperson in Paris
Last year, the company generated revenues of just under €340m. The combined entity would have estimated revenues of around €650m, well beyond Axway’s medium-term ambition as the company will be more than doubling its current revenue.
Axway’s spokesperson stressed that “Our proposed acquisition represents an undeniable opportunity for both companies. Together, they would consolidate values, expertise and organisations that already have a lot in common, and would mutually benefit from each other.’
He concluded by saying that “this merger would significantly strengthen the group, particularly in financial services, and more generally in Europe, where they share a large portfolio of customers.”
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