CGI announced an all-cash tender offer of €4.55 per share to acquire through its wholly owned subsidiary CGI Nordic Investments Limited, all outstanding shares of Affecto Plc, a leading provider of business intelligence and enterprise information management solutions and services.
Affecto’s Board of Directors is unanimously recommending that its shareholders accept CGI’s offer, which represents a total price of €98 million, or approximately C$146 million, a 29.3% premium to its closing price on August 21, 2017. The company currently trades under the symbol AFE1V on the Nasdaq Helsinki exchange. The tender offer is subject to a number of conditions, including approval by the relevant regulatory authorities, such as competition authorities, and CGI gaining control of more than 90% of the outstanding shares of Affecto. The transaction is expected to close in Q1 F2018.
Adding to CGI’s recognized digital expertise in analytics and data science, Helsinki-based Affecto would bring more than 1000 highly-skilled professionals from across 18 offices in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark as well as Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. With robust strategic consulting, system integration, cloud, data analytics and digital transformation capabilities, Affecto will further complement CGI’s global expertise across several in-demand digital transformation areas. Over the last twelve months, Affecto has generated revenue of €119.8 million.
“The offer to merge with Affecto aligns with CGI’s plan to profitably double the company in five to seven years through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth,” said George D. Schindler, CGI President and Chief Executive Officer. “In turn, for the benefit of our respective clients, CGI brings Affecto depth and end-to-end capabilities, including access to a network of global and onshore delivery centers, robust intellectual property portfolio, managed services and high-end IT consulting. We will continue to implement an established build-and-buy strategy that adds to our strength in the Nordics and around the globe.”
“We look forward to welcoming Affecto professionals into the CGI family as member-owners, sharing and collaborating as highly skilled innovators that are focused on delivering value to clients,” said Heikki Nikku, CGI President of Nordics operations. “By merging with the global reach and resources of CGI, the powerful combination creates unique career opportunities for CGI professionals in the Nordics as we pursue profitable future growth together.”