Sopra Steria has acquired lending solutions provider Sword Apak, a subsidiary of Sword Group.

It acquired 100% of Sword Apak through its subsidiary Sopra Banking Software which develops specialised lending solutions for car loans and asset finance.

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Sword Apak currently has more than one hundred clients, including major international banking groups and carmakers’ captive finance companies.

Its flagship offering, Wholesale Finance System (WFS), is a vehicle fleet and inventory financing solution for car dealers.

WFS is available through either a traditional licence and maintenance model or what Sopra described as an ASP1 model.

Sword Apak was founded in 1979 and acquired by Sword Group in 2007. In 2017 it posted revenue of €27.5m (£24.01m).

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More than two-thirds of its revenues are recurring. EBITDA came to €7.1m in 2017. Over the past three years, the compound annual growth rate for revenue has been 19%. At 30 June 2018, Sword Apak had 250 employees.

Sopra said the acquisition gave it an unrivalled position in the asset finance software market.

In 2016 Sopra acquired French tech firm Cassiopae.

Cassiopae’s founder, his family, and certain managers including the current chairman Emmanuel Gillet, retained around 25% of the share capital, which Sopra Steria will acquire by 2020.

It rounds out Cassiopae’s offering (loan financing and fleet or personal leasing) with inventory financing solutions for car dealers and other distribution networks.

It also further consolidates its strong position with major groups that are already clients of the two companies by leveraging cross-selling opportunities and provides a global, integrated, end-to-end solution covering all the sector’s financing needs.

Sopra said the acquisition of Sword Apak was aimed at strengthening the company’s business model by boosting its share of recurring revenue.

It said that the acquisition reaffirms group’s confidence in Sopra Banking Software’s strategy and its capacity to address financial transformation-related challenges through its digital platforms.

Sopra Steria will consolidate Sword Apak in its accounts in October 2018.