Six months after its creation, Sesami, a subsidiary of Quebec giant GardaWorld, is completing its third acquisition by getting its hands on Planfocus and its platform specializing in cash management. This transaction is a springboard for the company, according to its President and CEO, Stéphane Gonthier.
Posted at 4:00 p.m.
“This will give us a much greater presence in Europe, Africa and Asia than in the past,” said the 56-year-old manager during a videoconference with The Press while in Florida. We will have a global presence. »
The amount of the transaction announced on Tuesday was not specified by Sesami, which wants to dominate the niche of cash management. The company offers cash demand predictability software to banks and their business customers.
Following the acquisitions of Tidel and Gunnebo announced on 1er last February, Mr. Gonthier, a former employee of Dollarama and Alimentation Couche-Tard, wanted to continue to expand the geographical footprint of the GardaWorld subsidiary, best known for its money transportation activities. This is what his most recent take allows him to accomplish.
Founded in 2004 in Munich, Germany, Planfocus made it possible to achieve this goal. This company also counts among its clients financial institutions such as Deutsche Bank and the Dutch group ING.
“Sometimes, we find an application that we already have on our platform, but which is more successful or which has more market share, underlines Mr. Gonthier. This is the power of Planfocus. Its artificial intelligence solution learns on its own. There are nearly 80,000 bank machines that rely on this solution. »
The big boss of Sesami also believes that this third acquisition will allow him to sell other services to customers with whom the GardaWorld subsidiary did not do business. More and more companies, such as banks, want to reduce the cost of managing cash, which offers significant growth opportunities for Sesami, believes Mr. Gonthier.
This amounts to around 1.4 billion the annual revenues of the company.
Other acquisitions in sight
If GardaWorld is established in Quebec, it is not yet certain that the province will house the headquarters of Sesami, an entity independent of the security giant. Asked about this, Mr. Gonthier said that a decision would be made in “the months to come”. No matter what will be decided, there are “plenty of possibilities to generate hundreds of jobs in Montreal”, particularly in terms of research and development, estimates the boss of Sesami.
He also warned that the company had not finished shopping. Other acquisitions should be announced, assures Mr. Gonthier.
“Our goal is to be present in more than 150 countries,” he says. We intend to announce transactions in the not too distant future. We are very active in mergers and acquisitions. »
About fifty files are studied by the Sesami team, according to the manager.
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- Number of continents where Sesami solutions are used
Source: Sesami