French Atos buys Syntel for $3.4 billion to expand North America footprint

New Delhi: IT firm Atos on Monday said its $3.4 billion acquisition of Syntel will help the French firm enhance its footprint, especially in the North American market and accelerate the digital transformation of its customers.

"The highly complementary portfolio, customer basis, and geographical presence of the combination between Atos and Syntel will significantly enhance our footprint, in particular in the North American market and accelerate the digital transformation of Atos' customers," Atos Chairman and CEO Thierry Breton said in a statement.

The French company had announced the acquisition on Sunday.

Both Atos and Syntel have significant presence in India. Syntel, which has 23,000 engineers in 30 countries, has over 18,000 staff based in India. Atos has about 16,000 people.

All of Syntel's management team is expected to join Atos.

Atos, which reported its financial performance for the first half of 2018 on Monday, saw revenue growing 1.7 per cent to over 6 billion euros. However, its revenue and operating margin was lower in North America year-on-year in the reported period.

Post the transaction (expected by year-end), Syntel CEO Rakesh Khanna will become a member of Atos Executive Committee.