Xchanging, the pure-play business process outsourcing company, is pleased to announce that it has extended its procurement operations in France with the acquisition of 100% of the share capital of Mercuris, a procurement service provider based in Paris.

Mercuris provides procurement outsourcing and advisory services to the Banking and Insurance sectors in France and has gross assets of €1.7m. Mercuris was founded in 2000 by its management team and in 2003 Groupe Caisse d’Epargne, one of the major universal banks in France, and the principal customer of Mercuris, acquired a majority stake in the business. Groupe Caisse d’Epargne has agreed to extend their outsourcing contract with Mercuris to 2011 representing a cumulative spend value of €1.5bn over the life of the contract. This acquisition further strengthens Xchanging’s position as the European market leader in procurement outsourcing and provides a strong platform to target the opportunities in this exciting growth area in France. David Andrews, Xchanging CEO commented, “France is an important market for procurement outsourcing for Xchanging. We are delighted to be able to welcome such a highly experienced management team and look forward to growing Mercuris further. Moreover, we are pleased to be entering into a long term relationship with such a prestigious financial institution.” Amaury Fournial, Managing Director, Mercuris said, “We are excited about joining Xchanging and being part of an organisation that has so much experience in procurement outsourcing and which can provide a wealth of opportunities for our employees.”