Application programming interface (API) management firm Axway has agreed to acquire financial technology firm Sopra Banking Software (SBS)’s activities from Sopra Steria Group at an enterprise value of €330m.
The signing of the agreement between the parties comes after the receipt of approval from the boards of directors of Axway, Sopra Steria, and Sopra GMT as well as opinions from various entities employee representative bodies involved in the transaction.
For the acquisition, Axway has secured funding through a mix of new debt facilities confirmed by Groupe Crédit Agricole and Société Générale along with a share capital increase with preferential subscription rights of nearly €130m.
This capital increase benefits from a subscription and underwriting commitment from Sopra Steria’s controlling shareholder Sopra GMT.
As part of the share capital increase, Sopra GMT will acquire a block of over 3.6 million Axway shares from Sopra Steria. This represents about 16.73% of Axway’s capital amounting to €95.9m.
Sopra GMT will also participate in the capital increase on an irreducible basis, covering its own rights as well as those acquired from Sopra Steria, representing approximately 53% of the total capital increase.
Besides, Sopra GMT will secure the remaining capital increase by acquiring any shares that remain unsubscribed at the end of the allocation process.
Sopra Banking Software’s activities on a stand-alone basis represent a revenue of €359m.
The deal is expected to help Axway create a new major player in enterprise software markets and financial services.
Subject to obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals and other conditions, the acquisition and the proposed capital increase will be completed by the end of Q3 2024.
Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank is serving as financial adviser to Axway.
Last year, Sopra Banking Software introduced a new-generation, modular, real-time, cloud-native core banking platform, powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud technologies.
