Atos completes $3.4 bn acquisition of US IT firm Syntel

Paris, Oct 10 (IANS) French technology services company Atos has announced the completion of the acquisition of US-based information technology firm Syntel for $3.4 billion.

With the finalisation of the deal, Syntel has now become a wholly owned subsidiary of Atos, the company said in a statement on Monday.

Co-founded by Indian-American couple Bharat Desai and Neerja Sethi in 1980, Syntel offers its customers value-added digital services in several specific verticals such as banking and financial services, healthcare, retail and insurance.

Syntel generated $924 million revenue in 2017, of which 89 per cent was in North America, with 25 per cent operating margin. It employs 23,000 engineers in 30 countries, with over 18,000 staff based in India.

"Today marks a new major step in the development of the group, as we welcome more than 23,000 Syntel employees to Atos," said Thierry Breton, Atos Chairman and CEO.

The terms of the merger agreement were announced on July 22 this year and was approved by Syntel’s shareholders on October 1.

The purchase price of $3.4 billion and the repayment of Syntel’s outstanding debt for $0.3 billion were financed through debt fully underwritten by BNP Paribas and J.P. Morgan Securities PLC.

As a result of the acquisition, Syntel shares will cease trading, and will be delisted from the American stock exchange Nasdaq, Atos said.