Christophe Bianco, head of sales & bids, cyber digital solutions business line at Thales, got involved in the tech and cybersecurity sector in 1996 in Luxembourg, when the internet effectively took off. He co-founded Excellium in 2012.
Three types of cyber crimes
The opportunists that are active in cyber criminality (phishing emails, ransomware, etc) are “not the most dangerous but are the most expensive financially,” Bianco said. Second, activists are people with time to spend and a mission (anonymous, vegan, anti-nuclear, etc). They will not create significant damage, but they will regularly attempt to interrupt targeted businesses. Lastly, with European institutions on its territory, Luxembourg is confronted with attacks from pirates or mercenaries creating mayhem on behalf of other non-friendly countries upon the imposition of new sanctions, for instance.
Not if, but when. Then what?
Beyond helping firms build cyberdefence operations, Excellium developed expertise in tackling cyber incidents. “Many businesses believe that nothing will happen to them.” But when a crisis hits a company, Bianco explained that “the longer the crisis, the longer it takes to get back to normal production.” He witnessed a client, an experienced cybersecurity manager in Luxembourg, retire early as “he experienced a near burnout.”
When tackling an issue, Bianco noted the importance of attention to detail. Once, when accompanying a client managing a cybersecurity crisis, the hacker managed to invite himself to the virtual conference call of the crisis committee.
Making its own luck
As described in the , Excellium and its venture capital partner, Sonae Capital, set the scene for a well-thought exit. Indeed, Excellium was tempted into an exit much earlier than initially expected given the attractive multiples offered in 2022, without a doubt, a timely sale in terms of valuation (not disclosed by Thales).
The sellers hired Stifel, an investment bank specialised in cyber defence, amongst other sectors, to run the sale, which attracted several bidders including Thales. Thales was an ideal candidate given their preference for an industrial European player and the ongoing need for capital investments to further grow the business.
An alliance made in heaven
Moreover, the involvement of the state in cyber security was also another noteworthy consideration. Indeed, Excellium was serving banks and insurers (50%) as well as “government and critical infrastructure operators” (50%). Finally, they were looking for a buyer that was not “only looking for an extension of their other activities.”
Bianco thinks that Thales acquired Excellium because of its expertise much more than the revenues it was generating. Importantly, the Thales acquisition offered the best job perspective for Excellium’s employees, such as working abroad.
According to Bianco, the greatest achievement of Excellium has been to build a firm with 200 experts in cybersecurity in Luxembourg where the supply of such of expertise is “quite limited.”
As Thales is involved in space, cyber security and defence, Paperjam questioned Bianco on the importance of defence considerations in the transaction. He thinks that combining Excellium‘s cyber security capacities to Thales’s defence contracts with Belgium and Luxembourg brought in attractive synergies. The same is true for its dealings with Nato maintenance and supply agency (Namsa) and Nato itself.
Nowadays we are involved in projects that were out of reach at Excellium… we are in the major league
The enlarged group will not only serve sensitive financial institutions and the government in Luxembourg, amongst others. Indeed, Thales will operate research and development operations in the country.
Building the future started years ago
Bianco and some of his colleagues have nurtured new talents in about 10 learning institutes, including the in the greater Luxembourg region. Bianco and his co-founder perceived rather positively the perspective of seeing Thales solidifying its roots in Luxembourg.
As the sale contract excluded any earn-out clauses, Bianco and his co-founder were free of any obligation on the day they signed the sale contract. They were nevertheless committed to manage the integration over the initial two years and decided to stay given that Thales expressed trust in the duo to leverage their capabilities within the wider group.
“Nowadays we are involved in projects that were out of reach at Excellium… we are in the major league.” Bianco explained that they have doubled turnover and are now leading large projects, whereas Excellium would only have been part of a consortium in its previous life.