Publicis Groupe announces its plans to purchase Xebia France

Publicis Groupe [Euronext Paris FR0000130577, CAC 40] announces that it is entering into exclusive negotiations with Xebia France, the agile IT consultancy firm.

Founded in 2005 by Luc Legardeur, Xebia France is a renowned agile IT consultancy firm that specialises in Data, Web, Cloud technologies, reactive software programming and Mobility.

This technological gem, with a 170-strong talented team called the “Xebians”, works with large accounts such as Axa, Air France, BNP Paribas, la Française des Jeux, Meetic, Natixis, Sanofi and startup businesses such as BlaBlaCar, Early Birds, ManoMano.

Xebia France is the creator of XebiCon, a key event in the field of technology which has been running every year for the last five years, bringing together over 1,000 participating developers, data experts, tech leads, CTOs, etc.

This merger would strengthen the Publicis.Sapient teams in France (650 people) and bolster its high-end engineering capability, which is a key component of Publicis.Sapient’s unique combination of strategy & consulting, experience and engineering expertise – all of which are crucial to the delivery of a successful end-to-end transformation for clients. It would allow for an increase in this group’s dynamic of sustained growth as transformation partner to clients, able to help them reimagine their business through radical customer centricity and to accelerate their Digital Business Transformation efforts.

The purchasing plans are subject to prior consultation by the representative staff bodies and the usual applicable terms and conditions. The financial details of this process will not be disclosed.

Agathe Bousquet, President of Publicis Groupe in France, states: « Publicis.Sapient is experiencing significant growth since we asserted our offer and gathered all our experts under the same brand. Today, we want to reinforce our capabilities in technology in order to better deliver on our clients’ strategic projects and we are convinced of Luc and his team’s excellence and complementarity ».

Nigel Vaz, Global Business Transformation Lead at Publicis Groupe and CEO of Publicis.Sapient in EMEA and APAC, says: “Publicis.Sapient has always been there to help clients reimagine their business in the context of a digital age, and engineering is core to that approach. As we continue to grow in France, having the high-end engineering capability of Xebia France join our business would take Publicis.Sapient to the next level as we deliver digital business transformation for our clients.”

“We are certain that joining the forces of a globally renowned group such as Publicis and a firm specialising in new technologies creates a unique and valuable offer in the French market to help our customers proceed with their necessary digital transformation. We would be very proud to be part of the Digital Business Transformation strategy of Publicis.Sapient and inspired by the prospects of such a collaboration”, adds Luc Legardeur, CEO of Xebia France.

Contact:
Catherine Helfenstein, Communication Director Publicis Groupe France
catherine.helfenstein@publicis.fr
+33 (0)6 18 64 01 28