Orange to Buy Majority Stake in Consulting Firm Business & Decision

Orange SA (ORA.FR) said on Thursday that it has signed an agreement to buy a majority stake in French consulting firm Business & Decision (BND.FR) in a deal that values the company at 62.5 million euros ($73.6 million).

The French telecommunications company said it would acquire 64% of the capital of Business & Decision in order to accelerate its data intelligence services for enterprises. Orange said the acquisition would be made in cash and that it will offer Business & Decision shareholders 7.93 euros a share.

Once the acquisition is closed, Orange will file a proposed simplified takeover bid for the remaining shares of Business & Decision, also at EUR7.93 per share, the company said. The deal was first proposed in May.

Business & Decision is a Paris-based consulting and systems integration group which specializes in business intelligence and customer relationship management.

"The acquisition of Business & Decision will strengthen our knowledge of our customers' businesses, a key lever for accelerating the digital transformation of our enterprise customers," said Thierry Bonhomme, deputy chief executive officer of the Orange Group responsible for Orange Business Services.

The deal is subject to the approval of the relevant competition authorities and is expected to close in early 2018.

Write to Marc Navarro Gonzalez at marc.navarrogonzalez@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 26, 2017 05:19 ET (09:19 GMT)