Advent reportedly prepping Idemia Public Security sale for up to €3 billion

Hollywood summer blockbusters are increasingly sequels, so perhaps it should be little surprise that the next biggest investment in U.S. biometrics capacity could feature a familiar protagonist. American private equity firm Advent International is gearing up for a potential sale of Idemia Public Security, with an expected price tag of between 2 billion and 3 billion euros (US$2.3 billion and $3.5 billion). That means a sale could be the largest in the history of the biometrics and digital ID industry.

The firm has retained Rothschild & Co. among advisers for the prospective transaction, Bloomberg reports, and a formal sales process could begin in September or later, according to the publication’s sources.

Idemia was created following Advent and French investment bank Bpifrance’s 2017 acquisition of Safran. Safran was combined with Advent company Oberthur Technologies to create OT-Morpho, which then rebranded as Idemia. Advent sought a reported €6 billion price tag for the biometrics and digital ID giant as of early 2023.

At the time, NEC, Assa Abloy or its subsidiary HID Global and Thales were considered potential bidders. HID Global’s Citizen Identity Division has since been acquired by Toppan Gravity.

Acuity Market Intelligence Principal Maxine Most notes that Advent’s plan for Idemia was always to grow and then sell it.

Idemia Public Security is “a bit of a mishmash,” so potential buyers could include an organization that wants a key piece of the business, such as that  dedicated to U.S. mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs), and would sell the rest, Most told Biometric Update in an email. Alternatively, it could be of interest to a major physical access control provider, a company in the government space like Palantir, or one that wants to compete with it.

Advent split Idemia into three companies in 2024 to facilitate the sale. Idemia Public Security is the North American arm of the group, specializing in biometric capture and management solutions for law enforcement and facial recognition for airports, in addition to digital IDs like mDLs.

IN Groupe completed its acquisition of Idemia Smart Identity last week, at an estimated price close to a billion euros.

Idemia Public Security employs about 3,800 people around the world, compared to about 2,000 for Idemia Smart Identity.

This post was updated at 7:44pm Eastern on July 8, 2025 to include comments from Acuity Market Intelligence.

Article Topics

acquisitions  |  Acuity  |  Advent International  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  IDEMIA  |  Idemia Public Security  |  Maxine Most