Safran's sale of Morpho attracts numerous interests; bids submitted in June
Listed French aerospace and defence group Safran [EPA:SAF] has decided to launch the sale of its identity and security subsidiary Morpho, French daily Le Figaro reported. The deadline for submitting bids has been set in June next month, after which the company will open the due diligence process, advised by Societe Generale and Lazard, the report cited a person in the know as saying. Safran is hoping to get EUR 2bn at least, or ten times EBITDA, for the unit.
The list of potential buyers include bidders include French smartcards maker Oberthur Technologies, Netherlands-based digital security provider Gemalto [AMS:GTO] and French IT services corporation Atos [EPA:ATO], as well as Japanese group NEC [TYO:6701], Germany’s G&D, and Sweden’s HID.
Financial players such as Astorg, Wendel, CVC, Apollo and KKR [NYSE:KKR], PAI, Eurazeo, Bain Capital, and Carlyle are also interested, the report added.
The report noted that the French Interior Ministry was raising questions about the sale, in particular because of the strategic assets of Morpho such as its biometric identification operations. Safran however claims that French revenues account for 10% of Morpho’s total sales, and 1% if the revenues with government-owned agencies only are accounted for.
The French government holds 15.4% of the share capital of Safran, the report noted.
The original article appeared in print, page 17.
Source Le Figaro