Baker McKenzie has advised a pool of Korean investment funds on the sale of SYSTRAN, a worldwide pioneer in automated translation technologies for over 50 years, to ChapsVision, French leading provider of sovereign data processing solutions. Finalized on 10 January 2024, the transaction is part of a competitive sale process.
SYSTRAN, a service provider to the French Ministry of Armed Forces, foreign governments and several US intelligence agencies such as the NSA and the FBI, offers advanced and secure automated translation solutions to business users in a variety of areas, such as international collaboration, multilingual content production, customer support, eDiscovery, big data analytics, and e-commerce. The group is headquartered in France, with subsidiaries in several countries, including the USA and Japan.
Founded in 2019, ChapsVision has made extensive R&D investments in big data processing, complemented by a sustained strategy of targeted acquisitions and international development. Today, the group has a cohesive structure of two branches targeting data-intensive sectors: one dedicated to customer engagement with companies and the other offering sovereign solutions dedicated to cyber intelligence and cyber security in the defense, intelligence, and security markets.
The Baker McKenzie team was led by Hugo Sanchez de la Espada, partner in the M&A team, and included the following members:
• Corporate/M&A: Paul Nury (senior associate), Johanna Federspiel (associate)
• Competition & Distribution: Léna Sersiron (partner)
• Public & Environmental Law: Arnaud Cabanes (partner), Pauline Abbouche (associate)
• Employment law: Jérémie Paubel (partner), Nella Picou (associate)
• Tax: Charles Baudoin (partner), Johanna Da Costa (partner)
• Real Estate: Fabrice Varandas (counsel), Raphaëlle Cayla (senior associate)
• Intellectual Property: Nathalie Marchand (partner), Lea Woodhouse (associate)
• Tech & Data: Magalie Dansac Le Clerc (partner), Camille Larreur (associate)