De La Rue Plc has now completed its acquisition of Philips Electronics NV Smart Card subsidiary Philips Cartes et Systemes SA. De La Rue has for some time been looking for new revenue sources to bolster flagging margins in its traditional bank note printing business, and first announced its intent to buy the Philips business in February (CI No 3,100). It paid 54.2m pounds cash, and will assume around 1.9m pounds debt. The Paris, France- based Philips company, which employs 370 people in offices in Paris and Caen, made losses last year of 0.5m pounds on turnover of 30.6m pounds. The two companies had already been involved in a joint venture company, formed in 1993 to market smart cards. De La Rue says the acquisition will give it full access to the smart card product technology, which will enable it to augment its existing business. The new smart card business will trade under the name De La Rue Card Systems.
