21 February 2008 - Gide Loyrette Nouel and the Swedish law firm Vinge advise Oberthur Technologies on its public offer for XPonCard Group AB:

Gide Loyrette Nouel and the Swedish law firm Vinge advised advised Oberthur Technologies SA on its public offer for the capital of the Swedish company XPonCard Group AB (XPonCard). This public offer aims to acquire 100% of the shares of XPonCard, which is listed on the OMX Nordic exchange in Stockholm. Oberthur has offered SEK 157 (around €17) per XPonCard share, which represents a premium of 34% compared to the closing price of the XPonCard stock, and a premium of 42% compared to the volume weighted average closing price of the stock over the last 30 trading days prior to the announcement of the offer . The total value of the offer stands at around SEK 704 million (approximately EUR 76 million). It has been unanimously recommended by the board of directors of XPonCard. 
 
The combination of Oberthur and XPonCard will create the 2nd largest player in the global Smart Card market.

The acquisition of XPonCard pursuant to the offer will be financed through external debt financing. Oberthur has entered into binding credit agreements for the debt financing of the offer with Société Générale.

XPonCard is a service company providing solutions and concepts for safe-payment cards, intelligent mobile solutions, customer loyalty development programs and identity protection systems.  

Oberthur Technologies is one of the world leaders in security technology. Its innovative and high quality services allow it to hold strong positions in the principal markets: Card Systems, one of the world leading providers of ID and security for Smart Cards. For mobile phones, payment, identity, pay as you go TV, transport and all of the services related to personalisation. Fiduciary: the 3rd largest private fiduciary printer in the world, specialising in high security fabrication and management of bank notes, passports and other identity documents sold in over 50 countries. Oberthur Cash protection: world leader in the new market for equipment for secure online fund transfers and the protection of ATM machines.

Legal counsel to Oberthur Technologies:
Gide Loyrette Nouel A.A.R.P.I. (Hugues Mathez and Stéphanie de Robert Hautequère for the corporate aspects, Maike Lorenzo for the financing aspects, and Stéphane Hautbourg for the antitrust) and Vinge (Anders Aberg, Jan Lombach, Mattias Friberg, Petter Elmstedt, Paula Röttorp, Louise Salomon and Anders Moren for the financing aspects, Mattias Schömer and Johan Bocander for the taxation aspects and Emma Dufva for the antitrust).