Has the wind finally turned at Idemia? After its reorganization into three separate entities at the beginning of the year, this French group specializing in payment systems and biometrics (15,000 employees and more than 3 billion euros in turnover in 2023) is opening the door to the sale of one of them. According to an internal document that L’Usine Nouvelle was able to consult, the sale of Idemia Smart Identity (ISI) is officially “considered”.
Present in 40 countries, ISI has 1,800 employees, of which around 300 are based in France. It designs and manufactures identity documents for governments and businesses.
“It is the most interesting of the three entities thanks to the potential for developing digital identity”indicates an internal source to L’Usine Nouvelle. According to our information, Idemia’s forecast budget indicates that ISI should achieve a turnover of 400 million euros in 2024 with an Ebitda of 100 million euros.
However, for the moment, the three new entities created at the beginning of the year are not yet fully-fledged subsidiaries. “The division is not yet legally completecompletes an internal source. Besides, the sales process will take at least 2 to 3 months, which will not prevent the transaction from being concluded towards the end of the year.” Nothing has been leaked about the potential buyer or the amount of the possible transaction.
A takeover by IN Groupe mentioned earlier in the year
Contacted by L’Usine Nouvelle, the Idemia group indicates «(not to be) able to comment on rumors regarding (son) evolution” and have priority “to innovate and provide high-value services and products to meet the expectations of (ses) customers regardless of any changes in the structure of (son) shareholding».
Last March, a takeover of ISI by IN Groupe (the National Printing Office until 2018, editor’s note) had already been mentioned by The LetterNone of the actors mentioned then wished to comment on the information.
The Idemia group is owned by the US investment fund Advent International and has Bpifrance as a minority shareholder (2.24%). It was built in the 2010s on the basis of the acquisition of Oberthur Technologies (1.15 billion euros) in 2011 and then Safran Identity & Security (2.4 billion euros) in 2016. In 2023, a total sale of the group had been mentioned for an amount between 5 and 6 billion euros. Pierre Barrial, CEO of Idemia, had specified internally that Advent International had then decided to “stop the process due to unfavorable market conditions”. In February 2024, Reuters had specified that the sale price was now around 4 billion euros. Thales was then cited among the candidates for the acquisition.
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
