Safran in exclusive talks to sell biometrics division to Advent for $2.7B

According to a report in Bloomberg, Safran has entered exclusive negotiations to sell its Safran Identity & Security division (formerly Morpho) to U.S. private-equity firm Advent International Corp. for $2.43 billion euros ($2.7 billion USD).

The deal would see Safran’s biometric identification technology combined with Advent’s Oberthur Technologies, creating a business with $2.8 billion euros in annual revenue.

In a statement, Advent commented that the combination of the Safran business with Oberthur would make them “uniquely positioned to accelerate the convergence between government and commercial markets.”

The Bloomberg report cites a letter to the French government in which Advent and Oberthur pledge to keep jobs in France for at least two years, and to list the merged entity on the Paris stock exchange in the medium term. BPIFrance, the government’s investment fund, also plans to take a stake in the combined business and will join the board.

Safran expects the deal to close in 2017, assuming regulatory approval in Europe and the U.S.

Article Topics

acquisitions  |  Advent International  |  biometrics  |  morpho  |  Oberthur Technologies  |  SAFRAN