Regulatory News:
Sodexho Alliance (NYSE:SDX) (Paris:SW), the leading global
provider of Food and Facilities Management services and number two in
the world in Service Vouchers and Cards announced today that it has
acquired Tir Groupe's Gift Vouchers and Cards business.
With eight regional agencies and 200 employees, Tir Groupe is
France's leading issuer of gift vouchers to businesses and local
communities. It generated issue volume of nearly EUR 300 million in
2006 and has experienced sustained average annual growth of 16% over
the past two years.
Tir Groupe offers its 14,000 clients one of the most comprehensive
networks in France with more than 325 national retail chains and
nearly 300,000 participating affiliates.
The transaction offers promising perspectives for both companies:
-- For Tir Groupe, the backing of a world leader in Service
Vouchers and Cards operating today in 29 countries, and in
particular access to the Sodexho client portfolio, will enable
it to accelerate its growth while opening new career
development opportunities for the employees of Tir Groupe and
Sodexho.
-- For Sodexho's Service Vouchers and Cards activity, the
acquisition provides an entry to France's gift voucher market,
a segment that benefits from excellent growth prospects with
an issue volume of nearly EUR 2 billion. It also extends the
Group's offering in the French corporate services segment and
creates a new distribution channel for its In-home Help
Vouchers (CESU) and Meal Vouchers. The acquisition also will
strengthen Sodexho's international presence of its Gift
Voucher business, with its significant growth potential around
the world.
"This acquisition will enable the development of numerous
synergies," said Pierre Henry, Sodexho Alliance COO and Chief
Executive Officer for Service Vouchers and Cards. "It is fully in line
with our strategy of proposing to clients a unique offer of services
that improve the quality of daily life, comprising Foodservices,
Facilities Management and Service Vouchers and Cards."
SODEXHO ALLIANCE, founded in 1966 by Pierre Bellon, is the leading
global provider of Food and Facilities Management services, with more
than 332,000 employees on 28,300 sites in 80 countries. For Fiscal
2006, which closed August 31, 2006, SODEXHO ALLIANCE had sales of 12.8
billion euro. Listed on Euronext Paris and on the New York Stock
Exchange, the Group's current market capitalization is 8.9 billion
euro.