The European Commission on Wednesday cleared the proposed $2.7 billion acquisition by Advent International of Safran Group’s Morpho identity solutions enterprise with the one condition that Morpho’s smart card payment business in France be divested.
Advent and Safran agreed that Morpho’s French subsidiary CPS, which supplies payment smart cards to banking customers in France, will be divested to maintain competition in Europe.
Advent International, a U.S.-based private equity firm, last October announced the agreement for Safran’s biometrics and identity solutions business, which will be combined with Oberthur Technologies (OT), a leader in embedded digital security technology. Advent owns a stake in OT.
Safran, which is based in France as is its identity business, also recently, sold its detection division to Britain’s Smiths Group so that it can focus on its core aerospace and defense work.
Safran Identity and Security (I&S) offers a range of biometric capture technologies, identity matching systems, and other identity solutions, and also has a strong presence in the U.S. The business had about $2 billion in sales in 2016. OT had about $1.3 billion in sales in 2015.
Bpifrance, a subsidiary of the French state, will also make an equity business in I&S alongside Advent.