French bank Société Générale is in
exclusive talks over the possible sale of ECS Group, its technology
finance and services subsidiary, to Econocom.
ECS reported a consolidated turnover of €840m
in the year to 31 December 2009, and EBITDA of €28m across its
business in 17 countries including China, Europe, and the US.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Econocom has reportedly offered €210m for the
group, and will finance this through €120m of acquisition debt
financing, €30m of Econocom share issued to Société Générale, €50m
of bridge financing (to be reimbursed with a later equity raise)
and €10m of cash from its own balance sheet.
It is planning to raise some of this from banks
including BNP Paribas, Fortis and ING.
The acquisition, if it goes ahead, would create
a group with revenue of €1.6bn and 4,000 staff, in which Société
Générale would have a 9% stake.
SG would also continue to provide refinancing
for the group. The two companies could continue to work separately
until 1 January 2011.
