Sopra Steria to increase stake in French IT services provider CS Group

Sopra Steria, a European tech firm, will acquire an additional stake of 29.73% in French IT services provider CS Group at €11.5 per share.

The deal will increase Sopra Steria’s stake in CS Group to 75.06%.

Sopra Steria will buy the additional stake from Yazid Sebag, CS Group’s Board of Directors’ chairman, CEO Eric Blanc-Garin, and their joint holding company Duna & Cie.

Given the 9.8% stake already held by Sopra Steria, CS Group’s other stakeholders Cira Holding and Novidy’s founders have already agreed to sell their interests of around 29.15% and 6.38%, respectively.

Anticipated to close in Q1 2023, the transaction is subject to foreign investments’ approval and customary conditions.

With the transfer of the main block and the other blocks, Sopra Steria will issue a draft simplified public tender offer for the remaining share capital and securities, providing equity or voting rights in CS Group at the same price of €11.5 per ordinary share.

Sopra Steria plans to request the implementation of CS Group securities’ mandatory delisting procedure in case the threshold permitting the completion of a mandatory delisting is achieved at the end of the offer.

Sopra Steria said that CS Group’s Board of Directors has already decided to rope in Finexsi, represented by an independent appraiser in Olivier Peronnet for compiling a report on the financial conditions of the offer and possible mandatory delisting.

Based on the findings of the independent appraiser’s report, CS Group’s Board of Directors will decide on the offer and its consequences for the company, its shareholders and its employees.

With 47,000 employees in approximately 30 countries, Sopra Steria reported revenue of €4.7bn in 2021.

CS Group is a European mid-size company serving digital services market.