By Alessandro Parodi and Victor Goury-Laffont
(Reuters) -Teleperformance said on Wednesday it plans to buy rival Majorel for 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion), with further acquisitions focused on digital transformation possible as early as this year, its CEO Daniel Julien added.
Bertelsmann and Saham, majority shareholders in Majorel, have irrevocably committed to tender their shares, the French outsourcing and call centre group said in a statement.
The deal follows a $4.8 billion merger between U.S.-based competitor Concentrix and French firm Webhelp in March.
JP Morgan said that the deal "increases the debate about industry consolidation long term, and how the industry will cope with disruptive trends with AI".
Teleperformance is offering 30 euros in cash for each Majorel share, with an option for its shareholders to receive shares at an exchange ratio of 0.1382.
Shares in Teleperformance, which plans to raise 2.05 billion euros through a dilutive capital hike to fund the deal, were the biggest faller on Europe's blue-chip index, down 13.8% at 1517 GMT. Majorel shares were up 38.2% to 28.95 euros.
Teleperformance, which has more than 420,000 workers worldwide, said it aims to expand its global presence and foster technology developments through the merger.
The deal will help incorporate Majorel's investments in digital services into Teleperformance's in-house GPT solutions, Julien said, adding that these were far ahead of those currently available and would be marketed in the near future.
RBC described the Majorel acquisition as "the second shock in less than 24 hours" after Teleperformance said on Tuesday that 20% to 30% of its current volumes will be automated.
Julien said the deal, which was subject to regulatory approval, would create the largest market player with annual revenues of about $12 billion, ahead of a previous revenue goal of 10 billion euros for 2025.
Teleperformance posted first quarter revenues of around 2 billion euros on Tuesday, up from 1.96 billion euros last year.
($1 = 0.9078 euros)