Background
Atos Origin has been closely involved in providing development and support services to Euronext for a number of years. In 2000, Atos Origin and Euronext created AtosEuronext, a 50/50 joint venture to manage the IT operations of Euronext in Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels, and to offer capital market services on a global basis. The joint venture has been successful in broadening the base of its services externally and helping Euronext to further improve its cost efficiency. AtosEuronext generated revenues of more than EUR 200 million in 2004.
Building on the successful delivery of AtosEuronext’s strategic objectives, Euronext announced last year that it had entered into discussions with Atos Origin to extend its joint venture relationship, with new contributed assets and a strong focus on capital markets globally.
The New Agreement
An agreement was signed on July 22nd 2005, under which both parties contribute additional assets and businesses to the joint venture. The major contributed assets from Euronext are the operations of LIFFE Market Solutions (LMS), the IT division of Euronext.liffe, which is the derivatives arm of Euronext (including the successful LIFFE CONNECT® electronic trading system). The major contributed assets from Atos Origin are market-related businesses, including middle and back office solutions, and its 50% stake in Bourse Connect. No cash is exchanged since the contributions of the parties are equally weighted. The new venture is expected to have annual revenues of more than EUR 350 million at the outset, with services provided directly to Euronext making up less than a half of that total. External clients include a number of international exchanges and clearing houses and, in addition, over twenty banks and brokers.
The expanded joint venture will continue to be owned 50/50 by the parties and will be headed by Jean-Marc Bouhelier, formerly Chief Information Officer of Euronext.liffe, who will become Chief Executive and Chairman of the Managing Board of Atos Euronext Market Solutions. The venture will operate with a Supervisory Board comprising up to five directors from Atos Origin and up to four from Euronext. Atos Origin will fully consolidate the revenues of the joint venture from July 1st 2005.
Bernard Bourigeaud, Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive of Atos Origin said, “The long-standing trust, co-operation and partnership between Atos Origin and Euronext provides us with an opportunity to build a dominant global business serving capital markets. At the same time, it will enable Euronext to continue to improve its cost efficiency and to further extend its leading market position. I wish everyone at AtosEuronext Market Solutions good fortune in this exciting venture”.
Jean-François Théodore, Chairman of the Managing Board and Chief Executive of Euronext, said, “This extension of our successful partnership with Atos Origin will enable us to realise our vision of building the world’s leading provider of services to global exchanges and clearing houses. In addition, the new operation will keep Euronext at the forefront in the use of technology, and enable us to maximise efficiencies while delivering high levels of service and reliability to our customers.”
About Atos Origin
Atos Origin is an international information technology services company. Its business is turning client vision into results through the application of consulting, systems integration and managed operations. The company’s annual revenues are more than EUR 5 billion and it employs over 46,000 people in 40 countries. Atos Origin is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic Games and has a client base of international blue-chip companies across all sectors. Atos Origin is quoted on the Paris Eurolist Market and trades as Atos Origin, AtosEuronext, Atos Worldline and Atos Consulting. For more information, please visit: www.atosorigin.com
About Euronext
Euronext N.V., a holding company incorporated under Dutch law that operates through local subsidiaries, was formed on 22 September 2000 when the exchanges of Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris merged. The Euronext group expanded at the beginning of 2002 with the acquisition of LIFFE Administration & Management (London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange, including the IT division: Liffe Market Solutions) and the merger with the Portuguese exchange BVLP (Bolsa de Valores de Lisboa e Porto).
