Atos to buy Sema for [pounds sterling]1bn.

Financial News, September, 2003

The Franco-US oilfield and technology services group Schlumberger has agreed to sell SchlumbergerSema, one of the biggest information technology suppliers to the UK public sector, at a massive loss, sources close to the company said Sunday.After a weekend of intense speculation, it is understood that Atos Origin, the French IT services provider, has agreed a [euro]1.4bn ($1.6bn) price for SchlumbergerSema in a package that includes shares and [euro]400m cash. Schlumberger bought the company in 2001 for [euro]5.2bn.

Atos, a top ten European computer services company, is believed to have beaten off competition from Computer Sciences, of the US, to close the deal. Sources said Schlumberger and Computer Sciences had disagreed on the price.