MILAN, Nov 25 (Reuters) - IT consultancy Accenture
and international fintech company ION Group are among a group of
four bidders that have submitted indicative bids for Italian
banking software and back-office group Cedacri, two sources told
Reuters.
Italian IT services provider Engineering, backed by Bain
Capital, is also vying for control of Cedacri along with a
consortium of private equity fund Apax and Italy's digital
services group Reply, the sources said, speaking on
condition of anonymity as the matter is private.
Cedacri and the bidders declined to comment.
Cedacri, which is advised by Deutsche Bank, aims
to identify its preferred bidder by the end of the year, the
sources said, adding that the deal is worth more than 1 billion
euros ($1.19 billion).
Cedacri is backed by Italian state-backed fund FSI, with a
27% stake, and by another 14 financial institutions including
Banca Mediolanum, Gruppo Banco Desio and Unipol
.
The sale is still in the preliminary stages but discussions
are expected to gain momentum in the coming weeks, the sources
said.
Italian daily Il Sole reported earlier on Wednesday that
Cedacri had initially explored an initial public offering (IPO)
but its focus had gradually shifted to selling a majority stake.
The company, based in the northern Italian town of Parma,
reported revenues of 383 million euros in 2019, with adjusted
core profit of 81.2 million euros, up 50% compared to 2018.
($1 = 0.8400 euros)
(Reporting by Elisa Anzolin; editing by Pamela Barbaglia,
Kirsten Donovan)