AKKA Technologies : TO ACQUIRE PDS TECH IN THE USA

05/06/2018

ACQUISITION IN THE UNITED STATES: AKKA TO ACQUIRE PDS TECH

AKKA is stepping up the pace of its deployment in the United States, in line with its CLEAR 2022 objectives

AKKA Technologies announces that it has entered into a definitive agreement with the shareholders of PDS Tech, Inc. ("PDS Tech") to acquire PDS Tech. PDS Tech is one of America's leading players in engineering and R&D services, specialized in aerospace.

When AKKA launched its CLEAR 2022 strategic plan in February 2018, it declared its ambition to make the United States the third pillar of its international expansion, alongside France and Germany.

This deal will allow AKKA to lay the foundations for its diversification into the aerospace sector in the United States, offering it unparalleled access to major OEMs with a unique recruiting tool.

PDS Tech is:

• • A US leader in engineering and technology services

• • Access to a prestigious client portfolio spanning major OEMs and industry players with a focus on aerospace

• • A key supplier to the top aerospace manufacturers (winner of five Boeing Performance Excellence Awards for engineering services and Gulfstream's Supplier of the Year award)

• • Unique recruiting capacity close to major innovation hubs and major US industrial groups

• • Revenue of $260 million in 2017, with 2,600 talents

• • An accretive acquisition from the first year

Mirroring the Group's successes in Germany, the acquisition of PDS Tech will be the first step in its acceleration in North America, allowing AKKA to reach critical mass in that market.

Maurice Ricci, Chairman and CEO of the Group, said: "I look forward to seeing PDS Tech join the AKKA Group. In a rapidly growing outsourced R&D market, this prospective acquisition offers compelling industrial logic, since PDS Tech gives us immediate access to prestigious industrial customers in the aerospace industry, including the largest manufacturers and their supply chain partners in aerospace. AKKA's unique expertise in autonomous vehicles, cross-sector technologies and future mobility system are perfectly illustrated by ourLink&Go andLink&Fly concepts. Our plan is therefore to combine PDS Tech's great recruiting capacity across the entire United States with our expertise in the field of technology consulting and digital solutions to support US as well as European customers."

Art Janes, Founder, Chairman and CEO of PDS Tech said, "A combination of the PDS Tech platform of services built in the United States over the past 40 years and the engineering offerings of AKKA are a perfect match. We are very excited about the possibilities from this transaction."

Cash Nickerson, President, CFO and a principal of PDS Tech added, "PDS Tech clients will greatly benefit from AKKA's global engineering and technology solutions. Our global customers are increasingly seeking global solutions."

The deal will allow AKKA:

• • To reach critical size in the United States

• • To grow in aerospace in the United States and to access a leading industrial customer base

• • To combine its expertise of high value-added solutions with the tremendous recruiting capacity of PDS to create a unique offer on the American continent

• • To strengthen its capacity to support its European OEM customers in the US market

• • To make an accretive acquisition from the first year

The closing of the transaction is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2018, subject to the fulfilment of all conditional clauses and the approval by relevant regulatory authorities.

Upcoming events:

Q2 2018 revenue: Wednesday 25 July 2018

H1 2018 results: Wednesday 12 September 2018

About PDS Tech

Founded in 1977, PDS Tech is an award-winning staffing and engineering firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas. PDS Tech provides services throughout the entire United States through 25 branch offices. Recognised as a specialist in engineering, PDS Tech has 2,600 employees and recorded revenue of $260 million in 2017. PDS Tech serves the key players in the aerospace, space, telecommunications, energy and tertiary sectors. It has received five Boeing Performance Excellence Awards for engineering services and a Supplier of the Year for Gulfstream.

About AKKA

Founded in 1984, AKKA today ranks as the European leader in engineering consulting and R&D services in the field of mobility. With 16,300 talented employees working in more than 20 countries, the Group recorded revenue of €1.3 billion in 2017.

A partner in innovation, AKKA boasts a prestigious customer portfolio featuring leading companies in the automotive, aerospace and rail sectors, as well as in the life sciences, services, telecommunications and defence. The list includes Airbus Group, Alstom, BMW, Daimler, GE, GlaxoSmithKline, Renault, Safran, Thales, Volkswagen and Volvo.

AKKA provides technological solutions to these major groups, enabling them to improve their innovation processes, their value added, their productivity and their efficiency when designing new products or processes, right through to the industrial production phase. Its unique geographical positioning around its Franco-German axis, its capacity to deliver cross-sector and transnational solutions and its in-depth expertise in the technologies of the future (AI, ADAS, IoT, Big Data, robotics, embedded computing, machine learning, etc.) allow it to assist its customers in their two key challenges, namely globalisation and digitisation. Digital technologies and the technologies of the future today represent 15% of AKKA's revenue.

AKKA is listed on Euronext Paris - Segment B - ISIN code: FR0004180537.

For more information, please visitwww.akka-technologies.com

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