Atos Origin acquires leading Indian payment processor – Venture Infotek

PARIS – 26 August 2010 – Atos Origin, an international IT services company, today announced the acquisition of Venture Infotek, the leading independent player in the Indian payment market.

Created in 1991, Venture Infotek operates in merchant acquiring, card processing, loyalty programs, government benefits programs and ATM management on behalf of the Indian Banks and major retailers. Venture Infotek operates in the major cities of India. Atos Origin has been attracted by the entrepreneurial spirit of Venture Infotek, by the quality of its technological platforms and by the portfolio of its existing customers.

The company expects revenue of EUR 30 million for the next fiscal year. The annual average growth rate was 35% over the last three years. The company employs almost 500 staff.

This acquisition represents for Atos Origin a unique opportunity to enter one of the world’s fastest-growing payment markets. The Indian payment industry has been and will continue to show high growth with many strong drivers:

1. The dynamics of the Indian economy will generate a significant increase of the number of payment transactions
2. One of the largest banking systems in the world with 60,000 bank branches serving 400 million people, with penetration rates still low for banking cards,
3. A strong Government focus to reduce the cash economy and establish card usage,
4. Significant improvements in infrastructure and interconnectivity and an increasing number of ATMs and terminals.

Venture Infotek is ideally positioned to participate in the growth of the payments market in India with circa 35% market share, a strong and experienced local management team, and being the only player in India with multiple clients in that market (6 out of the top 10 Indian Banks are customers of the company for many years). The company will be integrated in to Atos Wordline, the specialised entity of Atos Origin in Hi-Tech Transactional Services (HTTS) and electronic payments in order to exploit the complementarities and synergies particularly for the portfolio of offerings.

This transaction is fully in line with the strategy of the Group to grow its HTTS activities and to realise acquisitions in the payment area. Atos Origin is acquiring a company in its core business located in a country where the Group is already working with large customers, and employs 4000 staff including specialised teams in payment solutions.

The acquisition consideration was 100% cash on closing and was financed through existing credit lines. The transaction is expected to be accretive from the first year with a fast growing impact in the next years. The Group followed its criteria for acquisitions which are the value of the asset, the synergies with the Group and in accordance with its financial capacities and prudent financial discipline.  .

About Atos Origin

Atos Origin is a leading international Information Technology (IT) services company, providing Hi-Tech Transactional Services, Consulting, Systems Integration and Managed Services to deliver business outcomes globally. The company’s annual revenues are EUR 5.1 billion and it employs 49,000 people. Atos Origin is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic Games and has a client base of international companies across all sectors. Atos Origin is quoted on the Paris Eurolist Market and trades as Atos Origin, Atos Worldline and Atos Consulting.

For further information, please visit www.atosorigin.com

Press contact:

Caroline Crouch, Tel +44 77 333 100 86, caroline.crouch@atosorigin.com
Investor Relations contact :
Gilles Arditti, Tel: +33 (0) 1 55 91 28 83, gilles.arditti@atosorigin.com