May 11, 2021

Accenture Announces Intent to Acquire Linkbynet, A Leading French Cloud Services Provider

Acquisition would enhance Accenture Cloud First capabilities supporting clients’ cloud migrations and business transformations

PARIS; May 11, 2021 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has announced its intent to acquire Linkbynet, a leading French cloud services provider specializing in cloud optimization and managed services, cloud transformation and cloud security. Financial terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.

Founded in 2000, Linkbynet is a cloud-native solutions provider based in Saint-Denis, France, with additional offices in Belgium, Canada, China, France, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Singapore and Vietnam. The addition of the company’s team of more than 900 highly skilled professionals, who hold 400 certifications from major cloud providers such as Alibaba, Amazon, Google and Microsoft, would further enhance the global capabilities of Accenture Cloud First.

“Acquiring Linkbynet would be another strategic step in strengthening our Accenture Cloud First capabilities,” said Karthik Narain, global lead, Accenture Cloud First. “Linkbynet’s talented team would bring deep cloud and engineering specialization, managed services, sophisticated technology tools and cybersecurity intelligence.”

Backed by a $3 billion investment over three years, Accenture Cloud First is a multi-service group of 70,000 cloud professionals offering an unmatched depth and breadth of cloud expertise, industry cloud solutions, ecosystem partner capabilities and assets to help clients realize greater value from cloud at speed and scale.

Olivier Girard, market unit lead for Accenture France & Benelux, said, “Entire industries have been challenged to not only reinvent their customer experience, but also their core offerings, while imagining new business models for the future. With advisory and digital transformation experience across cloud implementation, security, management and optimization, the Linkbynet team brings critical skills that would help Accenture clients adopt emerging technologies and scale them across their enterprise for strategic agility in a challenging business environment.”

Patrick and Stéphane Aisenberg, co-founders of Linkbynet said, “We are proud to be one of the first French cloud-native players and a pioneer in the synergistic models between technological transformation (cloud adoption), security and cloud managed services. The combination of Accenture’s and Linkbynet’s unique working culture, values, and technical expertise would enable us to better support our customers’ digital projects across multiple sectors while providing their organizations with the same exceptional levels of service and resilience they’ve come to expect. We are excited about the opportunity to join Accenture in helping companies reimagine their business and rebuild differently for the benefit of all — from their customers and people to society at large.”

Over the past 24 months, Accenture has made a number of strategic investments to expand and enhance its cloud services capabilities. These include in France the acquisition of Gekko in June 2020 and Cirruseo in June 2019 and more recently in Europe the acquisition of Edenhouse (UK), Infinity (UK) and Cygni (Sweden).

Accenture invested nearly $1.5 billion globally on 34 acquisitions in its 2020 fiscal year to acquire critical skills and capabilities in strategic, high-growth areas of the market.

The acquisition requires prior consultation with the relevant works councils and approvals from the relevant authorities and would be subject to customary closing conditions.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations services — all powered by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 537,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change to create value and shared success for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com

Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “likely,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “projects,” “believes,” “estimates,” “positioned,” “outlook” and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. Many of the following risks, uncertainties and other factors identified below are, and will be, amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. These risks include, without limitation, risks that: Accenture and Linkbynet will not be able to close the transaction in the time period anticipated, or at all, which is dependent on the parties’ ability to satisfy certain closing conditions; the transaction might not achieve the anticipated benefits for Accenture; Accenture’s results of operations have been significantly adversely affected and could in the future be materially adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic; Accenture’s results of operations have been, and may in the future be, adversely affected by volatile, negative or uncertain economic and political conditions and the effects of these conditions on the company’s clients’ businesses and levels of business activity; Accenture’s business depends on generating and maintaining ongoing, profitable client demand for the company’s services and solutions including through the adaptation and expansion of its services and solutions in response to ongoing changes in technology and offerings, and a significant reduction in such demand or an inability to respond to the evolving technological environment could materially affect the company’s results of operations; if Accenture is unable to keep its supply of skills and resources in balance with client demand around the world and attract and retain professionals with strong leadership skills, the company’s business, the utilization rate of the company’s professionals and the company’s results of operations may be materially adversely affected; Accenture could face legal, reputational and financial risks if the company fails to protect client and/or company data from security incidents or cyberattacks; the markets in which Accenture operates are highly competitive, and Accenture might not be able to compete effectively; Accenture’s profitability could materially suffer if the company is unable to obtain favorable pricing for its services and solutions, if the company is unable to remain competitive, if its cost-management strategies are unsuccessful or if it experiences delivery inefficiencies or fail to satisfy certain agreed-upon targets or specific service levels; changes in Accenture’s level of taxes, as well as audits, investigations and tax proceedings, or changes in tax laws or in their interpretation or enforcement, could have a material adverse effect on the company’s effective tax rate, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition; Accenture’s ability to attract and retain business and employees may depend on its reputation in the marketplace; as a result of Accenture’s geographically diverse operations and its growth strategy to continue to expand in its key markets around the world, the company is more susceptible to certain risks; Accenture’s business could be materially adversely affected if the company incurs legal liability; Accenture’s work with government clients exposes the company to additional risks inherent in the government contracting environment; Accenture’s results of operations could be materially adversely affected by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; if Accenture is unable to manage the organizational challenges associated with its size, the company might be unable to achieve its business objectives; if Accenture does not successfully manage and develop its relationships with key alliance partners or fails to anticipate and establish new alliances in new technologies, the company’s results of operations could be adversely affected; Accenture might not be successful at acquiring, investing in or integrating businesses, entering into joint ventures or divesting businesses; if Accenture is unable to protect or enforce its intellectual property rights or if Accenture’s services or solutions infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others or the company loses its ability to utilize the intellectual property of others, its business could be adversely affected; Accenture’s results of operations and share price could be adversely affected if it is unable to maintain effective internal controls; changes to accounting standards or in the estimates and assumptions Accenture makes in connection with the preparation of its consolidated financial statements could adversely affect its financial results; Accenture might be unable to access additional capital on favorable terms or at all and if the company raises equity capital, it may dilute its shareholders’ ownership interest in the company; Accenture may be subject to criticism and negative publicity related to its incorporation in Ireland; as well as the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed under the “Risk Factors” heading in Accenture plc’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this news release speak only as of the date they were made, and Accenture undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made in this news release or to conform such statements to actual results or changes in Accenture’s expectations.

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Contacts:

Velislava Le Fevre
Accenture France
+33 1 53 23 46 18
velislava.lefevre@accenture.com

Bonnie Olivier
Accenture France
+33 1 53 23 54 61
bonnie.olivier@accenture.com

Mylissa Tsai
Accenture
+1 917 452 9729
mylissa.tsai@accenture.com