Context
Iris Group SA (“Iris”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon Group and has been a leading Information and Knowledge Management (IM) player for over 33 years. Alongside IM, Iris has also built up two decades of experience and a solid knowledge base in hybrid technology solutions (HTS), through the delivery of end-to-end IT solutions and consultancy services.
Livia Group agreed to purchase the HTS business unit in Belgium, Luxembourg and Italy, subject to closing, which is expected in August.
The new entity will operate under the Westpole brand, a leading European IT services company acquired by Livia Group in 2018.
About Iris Hybrid Technology Solutions
The 100% subsidiary of Canon Group is headquartered in Belgium, started life as a spin-out from the University of Louvain la Neuve in 1987 and began trading in 1991. Its mission is to help individuals, professional organizations, public administrations and international institutions to better manage their information and to transform their assets into digital data that is easy to archive, share and convert into valuable and actionable content. The company has two divisions, Information and Knowledge Management and Hybrid Technology Solutions:
- IM is specialized in portable scanners & OCR software, document capture platforms for document classification and data extraction, and document capture toolkits that make in-house technologies available to software editors and hardware manufacturers
- HTS provides solutions and services to guide companies through the various steps of their digital transformation, with an extended portfolio of hybrid technology solutions, consulting services and managed services
The carved-out assets employ approximately 320 full-time employees and provide services to around 235 customers in Belgium, Luxembourg and Italy.
Deal Team
Should you want to know more about this transaction, you can contact one of the team members above
Bryan, Garnier & Co acts as Sole Financial Advisor to Iris, part of the Canon Group, on the sale of their Hybrid Technology Solutions Division to Livia Group / Westpole
This sale represents Bryan, Garnier & Co’s second transaction in a series of back-to-back assignments for Canon Group, after advising the Group on the sale of its German document outsourcing unit in 2019.
Iris chose Livia Group as the right partner based on its long-term commitment to the sustainable development of HTS with respect to employees and customers, and its strategic fit with Westpole.
This marks another landmark transaction for Bryan, Garnier & Co’s Business Services practice and also demonstrates Bryan, Garnier Co’s expertise in IT Services. Other transactions include the sale of Xerox Research Center Europe to Naver, the sale of Conduent to Andera Partners, and the buy-side representation of Orpea in its acquisition of Woonzorgnet.
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