The American group Concentrix buys the company Webhelp, co-founded by the French Olivier Duha and Frédéric Jousset, for 4.4 billion euros. 23 years after its creation, the French group joined Concentrix after 15 months of secret negotiations. Webhelp generates 2.6 billion euros in annual revenue and 410 million euros in Ebitda.
This operation creates a global giant by combining Concentrix, strong in the United States and Asia, and Webhelp, present in Europe, Africa and Latin America. But the union is not just a matter of geography. Concentrix is present in the support of automation solutions, chatbots or AI. Webhelp is specialized in data analysis, customer knowledge (KYC) and the payment sector.
The headquarters of the European activities will remain in Paris
As a result, the expected cost synergies are low, at $120 million within three years. “Guarantee of development opportunities for employees [la transaction] does not reveal any significant redundancy, either in terms of implementation or in terms of teams” mentions Webhelp in a press release.
It should be noted that the headquarters of the European activities will remain in Paris, and that Olivier Duha takes the vice-presidency of the board of directors of Concentrix.
“The combined group will be led by Chris Caldwell, current president and CEO of Concentrix. Olivier Duha, current CEO of Webhelp, will be appointed vice-chairman of the board of directors of the new entity and will ensure the integration of the two groups alongside the CEO. The management team will be made up of current members of the Concentrix and Webhelp teams.