5 Things To Know About A Possible Atos-DXC Technology Deal

Atos’ Acquisition Spree

Atos, which has 110,000 employees in 73 countries, has been acquiring firms at a rapid pace, buying or entering negotiations to acquire 12 companies in the last year. It’s been using it remaining free cash flow after dividend payments to make “bolt-on” transactions, according to TBR.

The company reported fiscal 2019 group revenue of 11.59 billion euros or $13.72 billion last February, up 1.4 percent and led by its performance in cloud, big data and cybersecurity. Close to 30 percent of that, roughly $4.1 billion, was generated in the United States, CEO Elie Gerard told CRN in a November interview. Approximately 60 percent of its revenue came from Europe, which then included the United Kingdom, and the rest was spread across South America, Africa and the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.

Atos has partnerships with the three major public cloud providers — AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. In November, it announced Atos OneCloud, a $2.4 billion, five-year initiative aimed at proactively accelerating its customers’ migrations to the cloud. Girard said the company would invest in increased cloud technical certification for its employees, research and development, hybrid cloud investments and acquisitions.

Atos’ latest acquisition target is Motiv ICT Security, a Netherlands-based cybersecurity company specializing in managed security services and security operation center services. Terms of the deal, which was announced in December and is expected to close in the first quarter, were not disclosed. Atos is the largest managed cybersecurity services provider in Europe and No. 3 globally, according to Gartner.

In December, Atos completed its acquisition of SEC Consult Group, a cybersecurity consulting provider based in Vienna, Austria, and the acquisition of Salesforce Gold Partner Eagle Creek Software Services, an Eden Prairie, Minn.-based technology and management consulting company. It also closed its deal to buy Edifixio, a Levallois-Perret, France-based cloud consulting and integration company that Girard said would strengthen Atos’ position to move from an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner to an AWS Premier Consulting partner.

In October, Atos finalized the acquisition of Reston, Va.-based cybersecurity company Paladion, an artificial intelligence-driven managed detection and response provider with 800-plus employees and cybersecurity experts.

Other acquisitions have included Chicago’s Maven Wave, a business and technology consulting firm specialized in digital transformation solutions for large enterprises and a Google Cloud Premier Partner, last February.

Girard told CRN that Atos was not eying acquisitions because he sees holes in the company’s offerings, but to boost the 10 capabilities that it’s offering under Atos OneCloud in certain geographies.

“I don’t feel at all that we have any hole,” he told CRN in November. “This is exactly why we felt it was the right moment to launch this (Atos OneCloud) initiative. Four or five years ago, I would have answered differently.”