Atos buys 50 per cent stake in sports technology company MSL

The combined company will see 500 specialised business technologists dedicated to supporting major events

IT services company Atos is to acquire 50 per cent of MSL Group, a provider of real-time results and information systems for sporting events.

The deal is expected to close by 31 March 2012 and includes an option for Atos to acquire the rest of MSL Group by 2014.

MSL has a €15m annual turnover and Atos paid about €22m for its 50 per cent stake, according to one source.

MSL Group, which comprises 160 staff, will be combined with Atos Major Events, the sports division of Atos, to create a group of 500 specialised business technologists dedicated to supporting major events.

A spokesperson for Atos explained that although much of the technology being worked on by the two groups was similar, MSL had a different customer base.

"MSL manages all the tennis tournaments including the Masters and Wimbledon and Atos will benefit from this."

The new combined portfolio will offer timing and scoring information diffusion systems that distribute the results to international media as well as news agencies, websites and TV graphics.

It also includes games management systems, system integration and games times software.

Employees from both MSL Group and Atos Major Events are based in Spain and will start to collaborate immediately.