Orange Signs an Agreement to Acquire SecureLink and Accelerate Its Leadership in the European Cybersecurity Industry

• Orange announces the signing of an agreement for the acquisition of
  100% of SecureLink on a €515m Enterprise Value basis.
• With €248m revenues in 2018, SecureLink is one of the largest
  independent cybersecurity services providers in Europe, with a strong
  presence in the key Nordics, Belgian, Dutch, German and UK markets.
• Acquisition establishes Orange as a leader in the European
  cybersecurity industry, with more than €600m PF revenues in 2018 and
  on-the-ground presences in 8 European countries representing 75% of
  the market.

PARIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–On 7 May 2019, Orange entered into an agreement with Investcorp to
acquire 100% of SecureLink
on a €515m Enterprise Value basis.

SecureLink, based in the Netherlands, is one of the largest independent
cybersecurity services providers in Europe, with on-the-ground presences
in Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, Denmark and
Norway. Founded in 2003, SecureLink provides a full range of
cybersecurity services to support its clients. Its offering includes
specialised security consulting, security maintenance and support with
24/7 service desks (SOCs) as well as advanced managed detection and
response capabilities (MDR). The group is also a leading value-added
reseller of security software and hardware solutions, holding more than
1,000 technical or sales accreditations with blue chip security vendors.
With over 660 employees and 14 offices, SecureLink recorded IFRS
revenues of €248m in 2018 and served over 2,100 customers across a broad
range of industries.

With this acquisition, Orange becomes one of the European leaders of
cybersecurity with c.1,800 employees, more than €600m PF revenues in
2018 and strong positions in major local markets through its unique
European DNA and a comprehensive cybersecurity services offering.

The European cybersecurity market is growing rapidly and Orange is
already a leading player in the French market through Orange
Cyberdefense (€303m revenues in 2018, up 12% vs. 2017). Along with the
acquisition of SecureData in January 2019, this transaction greatly
accelerates Orange’s strategy to become a pan-European leader in
cybersecurity services.

With an extended European footprint and increased capabilities, the
combined organisation will be able to address the growing and
increasingly complex security needs of its customers on a global scale,
and deliver strong synergies with the expertise and worldwide presence
of Orange Business Services serving more than 3,000 multinational
enterprises.

SecureLink’s highly respected senior management will join the global
leadership team and participate in building the operating model for the
integrated combined organisation.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is
expected to complete in late Q2 or in Q3 2019.

“Cybersecurity is a growing priority for companies of all sizes, and
we believe the two most important success factors are Scale and
Proximity. Scale because today’s threats are global, complex, and
require matching protection capabilities. Proximity because in the
global IT world, you want a trusted local partner to secure your most
strategic assets. With the acquisition of SecureData and SecureLink,
Orange has the highest scale to anticipate and fend off attacks, as well
as local defense teams in all the main European markets, positioning the
combined organisation as the go-to defense specialist.” said Hugues
Foulon, Executive Director of Cybersecurity at Orange. “I am looking
forward to building the integrated organisation with Michel [Van Den
Berghe, CEO of Orange Cyberdefense], Thomas Fetten and all the teams”.

Thomas Fetten, Chief Executive Officer at SecureLink, commented “We
have been very impressed by the ambition and successful development of
Orange Cyberdefense over the past few years, and are very excited to
build a pan-European leader of cybersecurity together. Orange
Cyberdefense, SecureData and SecureLink are highly complementary and
share a common vision for the sector, and the combined organisation will
be in a phenomenal position to address the needs of our customers,
partners and employees.”

About Orange

Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with
sales of 41 billion euros in 2018 and 149,000 employees worldwide at 31
March 2019, including 90,000 employees in France. The Group has a total
customer base of 264 million customers worldwide at 31 March 2019,
including 204 million mobile customers and 20 million fixed broadband
customers. The Group is present in 27 countries. Orange is also a
leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to
multinational companies, under the brand Orange Business Services. In
March 2015, the Group presented its new strategic plan “Essentials2020”
which places customer experience at the heart of its strategy with the
aim of allowing them to benefit fully from the digital universe and the
power of its new generation networks.

Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New York
Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN).

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Contacts

Press contacts: +33 1 44 44 93 93
Nathalie Chevrier ; nathalie.chevrier@orange.com
Tom
Wright ; tom.wright@orange.com