French IT firm Atos acquires Venture Infotek

Atos Origin, a Paris-based global IT services and solutions firm having a turnover worth €5 billion, has announced that it has ventured into the Indian payments market following the acquisition of Venture Infotek, a Mumbai-based firm specializing in payment processing. Quoting sources, a report in a financial news website said that the acquisition was finalized completely in cash and it was financed by open credit lines.

The report quotes a Venture Infotek senior executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirming that his company has entered into an agreement with Atos Origin. He said that the French firm was eager to enhance its footprint in the payment industry in Indian and acquisition of Venture Infotek will provide the company with a strong footing in India. This, incidentally, is the first acquisition by Atos Origin in India.

Another online report quotes Atos Origin India CEO Milind Kamat saying that the Indian payment processing firm is expecting revenue earning worth €30 million ($38 million) during the current fiscal year ending on March 31, 2011. He further said that the mean rate of growth of annual revenue of Venture Infotek has been around 25 per cent during the past three years.

As per the terms of the deal, Venture Infotek will be incorporated into Atos Worldline – the hi-tech transactional services and e-payments unit of Atos Origin. The deal is said to be completely in line with the policy of the Atos Origin group to expand such transactional services as well as to acquire more firms in the payment processing domain.

It may be noted that Atos Worldwide has a global presence in the payment processing services sector. This unit of Atos Origin has annual revenue of €844 billion and employees around 4,800 professional worldwide. Atos had a presence in this country even before acquiring Venture Infotek and already employs around 4,000 people in India.