The company announced in March that it planned to sell the unit to Computacenter, a UK company. Now it has completed consultations with works councils and the deal will go ahead.
“This transaction significantly strengthens our activities in France and we are eager to explain the benefits it presents to our customers and partners. We plan to operate the acquired business as a separate subsidiary of Computacenter France, retaining the current management,” said Arnaud Lepinois (pictured), managing director of Computacenter in France.
BT said in March that the French operations generated total revenue of about £104 million in the financial year ending March 2019.
Bas Burger, CEO of BT Global – formerly BT Global Services – said when the deal was first announced: “With this agreement we are close to reaching another milestone in the execution of our strategy to make BT Global a more agile business focused on the growing requirements of our multinational customers.”
This was the latest in a series of deals by BT to sell off much of its former Global Services business.
At almost the same time as the Computacenter sale was announced, BT sold its domestic operations in 16 Latin American countries to a private equity group, also for an undisclosed sum. BT said the Latin American business had £110 million revenue in the last financial year.
On the French deal, BT said the transaction is subject to regulatory and competition approvals, and is expected to be completed before the end of 2020.
BT said it will retain a strong presence in the country after the sale, focusing on delivering next-generation networking, cloud and security services to multinational customers.
Computacenter Group CEO Mike Norris said in March: “This planned acquisition represents a small increase in our current revenues in France, which totalled €644.7m in 2019. … It would bring our customer offering in France closer to the broader portfolio in our larger European markets, providing a strong foundation for our continued long-term growth.”
The Computacenter Group is based in Hatfield, just north of London. Its Paris office is close to Charles de Gaulle airport in Roissy.
