ITALY - Bridgepoint interested in Sia-Ssb

The bid would likely be higher than that presented by French IT services group Atos Origin, which was thought to be between EUR 350-400m. The French group had been granted a period of exclusivity to finalise a deal, but was unable to secure agreement by the deadline on Monday this week.

Bridgepoint was thought to have submitted an intial offer to acquire the business when the sales process, being run by Citi, was launched in October 2008. Carlyle were also thought to be among the bidders.

Sia-Ssb was established in early 2007 from the merger of Società Interbancaria per l'Automazione and Società per i Servizi Bancari. The group, which is present in 30 countries, specialises in the processing of credit and debit card payments, offering its services to capital markets.

In 2008 the company saw its profit increase from EUR 2.3m to EUR 11.6m, while its turnover decreased by 1.4% to EUR 378.6m. The business employs 1,800 staff,

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• Southern Europe