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Artefact’s Board of Directors recommends the mandatory cash tender offer made by BidSky, a company controlled by Ardian

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Artefact’s Board of Directors recommends the mandatory cash tender offer made by BidSky, a company controlled by Ardian

Paris, October 12, 2021 – Artefact (FR0000079683 – ALATF – eligible for PEA-PME equity savings plans), an expert in data transformation and data & digital marketing for major brands, announces that its Board of Directors met on October 10, 2021 to issue its opinion on the interests for Artefact of the mandatory simplified cash tender offer filed by BidSky (the “Offeror”), a French simplified joint-stock company controlled by Ardian, for the shares of Artefact (the “Company”) for a price of 7.8 euros per ordinary share (the “Offer”).

The ad hoc committee, composed of a majority of independent members of the Board of Directors qualified as such under the criteria of the Middlenext Code of Corporate Governance and charged with supervising the mission of the independent expert, met on several occasions with the independent expert, the firm Accuracy represented by Mr. Henri Philippe, since its appointment by the Board of Directors on July 25, 2021.

The independent expert has noted that the Offer price represents a premium of 42% over the last closing price prior to the announcement of the entry into exclusive negotiations (July 23, 2021), and of 61% over the volume-weighted average closing price over the last three months preceding this announcement, and that it is also higher than the maximum price recorded over the twelve months preceding this announcement.

The independent expert has concluded that the Offer price is fair from a financial point of view with regards to the Offer stricto sensu, insofar as the price of the Offer is equal to the price paid by the Offeror for the acquisition of the controlling block completed on September 17, 2021, as well as with regards to a possible squeeze-out.

The independent expert notes in particular that the Offer presents a financial interest for the minority shareholders of Artefact who decide to contribute their shares to the Offer in that they will benefit from an immediate liquidity for their shares at a price which fully reflects the embedded value of the Company. Furthermore, the independent expert highlights that any Artefact shareholders who do not wish to contribute their shares to the Offer, thinking that the proposed prime, which could reach up to 25% more than the estimate of the embedded value of the Company, is too low, would then be exposed (except in the event of a squeeze-out), to the risks attached to the future development of the Company’s business, both in terms of business growth and maintaining profit margin levels, as well as the constraints of a controlled company with a limited liquidity of the Artefact share.

The Board of Directors of the Company has taken note of the conclusions of the independent expert and of the intentions expressed by BidSky in its draft information note, notably with regards to the implementation of a squeeze-out, and has thus noted that the Offer constitutes an opportunity for the minority shareholders of Artefact to benefit from an immediate liquidity under conditions considered to be fair by the independent expert.

The Board of Directors concluded that the Offer is in the interests of Artefact, which will be able to benefit from support in the continuation of its development, of its shareholders, who will benefit from an immediate and attractive liquidity opportunity, and of its employees, who will not be affected by a change in policy regarding salary and human resources.

Based namely on the fairness opinion delivered by the independent expert, the Board of Directors, with the unanimous approval of all members having participated in the vote1, issued an opinion in favour of the Offer and recommended that shareholders contribute their shares to the Offer.

The opinion of the Board of Directors is reproduced in full in the draft response note filed on October 12, 2021 with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (the “AMF”). In accordance with article 231-26 of the AMF’s General Regulation, the main elements of the Company’s draft response note, as well as the procedure for making it available, are set out in a standard press release issued by the Company. The Company’s draft response note is available on the AMF website (www.amf-france.org), as well as on Artefact’s website (www.artefact.com).

The Offer, the draft information note and the draft response note remain subject to the review of the AMF, which will assess their compliance with the applicable French legal and regulatory provisions.

About Artefact

Artefact is a new generation of end-to-end data services company, specialising in data consulting and data & digital marketing, dedicated to transforming data into business impact and tangible results across the entire value chain of organisations.

At the crossroads of consulting, marketing and data science, Artefact’s unique approach allows our clients to reach their business goals in a dedicated and efficient way. Our 800+ employees are focused on accelerating data and digital transformation thanks to a unique mix of company assets: cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence technologies, agile methodologies for fast delivery and efficient scalability, and teams of market-leading experts in data science and data & digital marketing, always working together and focusing on business innovation.

Covering Europe, Asia, North America, LATAM, Middle East and Africa, thanks to our 16 local offices, we partner with Global Tiers 1 brands such as Orange, Samsung, L’Oréal, or Sanofi all over the world.

About Ardian

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$114bn managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees. It keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering excellent investment performance to its global investor base.

Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, Ardian’s activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world.

Holding close its core values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 800 employees working from fifteen offices across Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), the Americas (New York, San Francisco and Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul). It manages funds on behalf of more than 1,100 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.

Contacts

Artefact
Sophie Huss
VP of Marketing Artefact Group
[email protected]
NewCap
Louis-Victor Delouvrier / Quentin Massé
Investor Relations
Tél. : +33 1 44 71 98 53
[email protected]

1         The directors having declared a potential conflict of interest with regards to the decisions that the Board of Directors could be required to make in relation with the Offer, being Mr. François de la Villardière, Mr. Guillaume de Roquemaurel, Mr. Vincent Luciani and Ardian France S.A., represented by Mrs. Marie Arnaud-Battandier, a director coopted on the proposal of the Offeror, undertook, for any decision concerning the Offer, to vote in accordance with the votes of the two directors of the Company qualified as independent, Mrs. Marguerite de Tavernost and Mr. Olivier Duha (it being specified that Mr. Olivier Duha gave Mrs. Marguerite de Tavernost the power to represent him in this meeting of the Board of Directors).

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Artificial Intelligence

Stamus Networks Participates in NATO CCDCOE Locked Shields Exercise

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Leading network-based threat detection and response company part of international contingent lending personnel and technology to support world’s largest live-fire cyber defense exercise
TALLINN, Estonia, April 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Stamus Networks, a global provider of high-performance network-based threat detection and response (NDR) systems, today announced its participation in Exercise Locked Shields, the largest and most complex international live-fire cyber defense exercise in the world. The annual event, which takes place this week, is organized by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) and aims to provide a multinational platform for enhancing partners’ cyber resilience and cooperation capabilities in a high-paced, crisis-like environment.

The exercise pits Red Teams (attackers) against Blue Teams (defenders), utilizing realistic scenarios, cutting-edge technologies, complex networks and diverse attack methods. Teams of civil and military experts must cooperate to defend critical infrastructure systems from cyberattacks.
“This exercise is a demonstration of the power of international cooperation, transcending borders, and uniting a diverse community of experts from the public and private sectors and academia,” said LtC Urmet Tomp, exercise director at NATO CCDCOE. “We are grateful for the dedication and expertise of our allies and all our partners, which are crucial in building a resilient global cyber defense.”
Since 2016, the Stamus Networks team has partnered with CCDCOE in exercises, including Locked Shields and Crossed Swords, contributing expert personnel and putting its Stamus Security Platform (SSP), the company’s flagship network-based threat detection and response system, to the test.
“True cyber resilience must be accomplished through collaboration, and there’s no better example of that on the international level than Exercise Locked Shields,” said Stamus Networks’ CEO Ken Gramley. “The lessons learned and key takeaways from the live-fire exercises that we’ve participated in over the years have been instrumental in helping organizations around the world build up defenses against today’s sophisticated cyber threats. We look forward to collaborating with experts again at this year’s exercise, not only to strengthen our own solutions, but to help defenders elevate their status as cyber heroes around the world.”
To learn more about the NATO CCDCOE and Exercise Locked Shields, visit the website: https://ccdcoe.org/exercises/locked-shields/.
About Stamus Networks: Stamus Networks believes in a world where defenders are heroes, and a future where those they protect remain safe. As organizations face threats from well-funded adversaries, we relentlessly pursue solutions that make the defender’s job easier and more impactful. The global leader in Suricata-based network security solutions, Stamus Networks helps enterprise security teams know more, respond sooner and mitigate their risk with insights gathered from cloud and on-premise network activity. Our Stamus Security Platform combines the best of intrusion detection (IDS), network security monitoring (NSM), and network detection and response (NDR) systems into a single solution that exposes serious and imminent threats to critical assets and empowers rapid response. For more information visit: stamus-networks.com.
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Artificial Intelligence

Appdome MOBILEBot™ Defense Empowers Mobile Brands to Equalize Web Application Firewall Performance and Stop Bots Attacks Better

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New adaptive defense model allows network security teams to adjust detection and defense rules to get the most out of existing web application firewalls.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., April 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Appdome, the mobile app economy’s one-stop shop for mobile app defense, today announced three new enhancements to its MOBILEBot™ Defense solution to empower mobile brands to get more value and control from their existing web application firewall (WAF) infrastructures by adjusting the evaluation, detection, and defense policy to suit each WAF product and installation.

Cybercriminals have shifted their focus to mobile bot attacks, including weaponizing mobile apps, modified mobile apps, malware controlled mobile apps, fake mobile apps, as well as the common bot tactics like bot farms and scripts to perform brute force account takeovers, DDoS attacks and API abuse. WAF vendors have responded by providing customers with anti-bot SDKs. However, anti-bot SDKs impose too much work and too many limits on mobile app developers with too heavy a performance penalty on mobile apps in production. In addition, using these anti-bot SDKs also require costly changes to WAF infrastructures. Appdome MOBILEBot Defense provides the only way to avoid these complex challenges, making it easy for customers to deliver mobile anti-bot defense on top of any installed WAF.
The Appdome MOBILEBot Defense solution is fully portable across all new and old, on-premise and cloud WAFs. The new enhancements to MOBILEBot Defense provide adaptive evaluation, detection and defense rules that can ease and balance the compute burden on existing WAFs and infrastructures, enabling mobile brands to proactively identify and thwart bot attacks, all while reducing the strain on traditional WAFs, including those WAFs reaching their end-of-service horizons. The new Appdome enhancements allow enterprises, network security teams and mobile brands to extend the useful life of WAFs and deliver more ROI from their existing WAF investments.
“Mobile brands need to stop bot attacks, but they also need to get the most out of their WAF infrastructures and avoid costly or unplanned WAF upgrades,” said Tom Tovar, CEO and co-creator of Appdome. “Any mobile brand will likely have multiple WAFs, each with different performance characteristics. Our goal is to allow the brand to tailor the bot defense profile to meet the performance characteristics of each WAF.”
The new innovations in Appdome MOBILEBot Defense include:
Appdome DEVICETrust™: DEVICETrust is an innovative way to set the evaluation mode for connection requests and screen bot traffic and attacks. With it, mobile brands have the power to set the trust level for each threat vector and, depending on the trust setting, determine where, when and how bot detection and defense is performed. This allows for customizable trust models based on the class and type of WAF used in the bot defense infrastructure. With the new trust model mobile brands can select and prioritize the security checks that are most important to their mobile app security project goals with the click of a button.
Three modes of DEVICETrust are available with Appdome MOBILEBot Defense:
Adaptive Trust – uses the Appdome Bot Defense Framework™ intelligence to dynamically adjust the evaluation model based on the responsiveness of each WAF connected to MOBILEBot defense. Runtime-Trust – allows connection requests to proceed while threat assessment and checks are in process.Zero-Trust – holds connection requests until threat assessment and checks are complete.Appdome Bot Source and BotID:  Bot Source and BotID give mobile brands the ability to achieve continuous risk assessments by adding any data, such as business logic, to specific users and sessions in a mobile app, giving the WAF more granular rules and automated enforcement at the point of the attack, including on connection, at login, transaction, password reset, or other key application workflows.
Appdome Client Rate Limiting: Client rate limiting leverages the compute and processing power of the mobile device used in the attack, performing rate-limiting enforcement within the mobile app. Configurable limits on how frequently a user can perform an action, such as attempting to log in, within a defined timeframe. This approach is better than only relying solely on server-side rate limiting which can be susceptible to brute force and DDoS attacks.
“We’re working hard to ensure that our customers get the most out of their WAF infrastructure,” said Chris Roeckl, Appdome chief product officer. “WAFs are high performance, very capable, platforms. The antibot SDKs provided by WAF vendors are not. We’re trying to bridge the gap and give mobile brands something they can use to stop bots quickly, easily and efficiently.” 
About Appdome MOBILEBot Defense Appdome MOBILEBot Defense is the industry’s only comprehensive and fully portable anti-bot defense solution built-from-the-ground-up for mobile apps. It offers mobile brands multi-layered bot detection, intelligence, and defense all in one solution, easily protecting the mobile channel from 300+ attack vectors including fake apps, weaponized apps, malware-controlled apps, bot attacks, credential stuffing, DDoS and account takeovers (ATOs). It requires no SDK, no coding, and no added servers to deploy, and is fully compatible with all coding languages and frameworks used in mobile app development. Appdome MOBILEBot Defense is also the only product to work seamlessly with any WAF used in a mobile brand’s network. With Appdome, mobile brands are more efficiently and effectively protected from bot-driven malicious attacks, fraud, IP theft, performance drains and compliance issues at lower cost and complexity than legacy approaches.  For more information about Appdome MOBILEBot Defense, see our Knowledge Articles at  https://www.appdome.com/how-to/mobile-bot-detection/mobile-bot-defense/mobilebot-detection/.
About Appdome The Appdome mission is to protect every mobile app in the world and the people who use mobile apps in their lives and at work. Appdome provides the mobile industry’s only Unified Mobile App Defense platform, powered by a patented mobile coding engine, Threat-Events™ Threat-Aware UX/UI Control, and ThreatScope™ Mobile XDR. Using Appdome, mobile brands eliminate complexity, ship faster and save money by delivering 300+ Certified Secure™ mobile app security, anti-malware, anti-fraud, mobile anti-bot, anti-cheat, geo compliance, MiTM attack prevention, code obfuscation, social engineering and other protections in Android and iOS apps with ease, inside the mobile DevOps and CI/CD pipeline. Leading financial, healthcare, government and m-commerce brands use Appdome to protect Android and iOS apps, mobile customers and mobile businesses globally. Appdome holds several patents including U.S. Patents 9,934,017 B2, 10,310,870 B2, 10,606,582 B2, 11,243,748 B2 and 11,294,663 B2. Additional patents pending.
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Artificial Intelligence

“Sopra Steria” is positioned as a Leader in the 2024 SPARK MatrixTM for Cloud-Native Application Development Services by Quadrant Knowledge Solutions

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The Quadrant Knowledge Solutions SPARK Matrix™ provides competitive analysis & ranking of the Cloud-Native Application Development Services (CNADS) vendors.  Sopra Steria, with its comprehensive technology for Cloud-Native Application Development Services, has received strong ratings across the parameters of technology excellence and customer impact.PARIS, April 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Sopra Steria and Quadrant Knowledge Solutions announced today that Sopra Steria has been named as a leader in the Q1 2024 SPARK MatrixTM analysis of the global CNADS market.

 
 
The Quadrant Knowledge Solutions’ SPARK Matrix™: Cloud-Native Application Development Services, includes a detailed analysis of global market dynamics, major trends, vendor landscape, and competitive positioning. The study provides competitive analysis and ranking of the leading technology vendors in the form of its SPARK Matrix™. The study offers strategic information for users to evaluate different provider capabilities, competitive differentiation, and market position.
According to Sitaparna Roy, Analyst at Quadrant Knowledge Solutions, “Sopra Steria through its Modern Apps Development Services helps organizations to convert their ideas into Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and monitor all the development stages to production with unparalleled speed, efficiency, and productivity. It facilitates this by offering Enterprise Architect Services, Low- code/ No-code services and Cloud-Native Application development Services in its Modern Apps Development Services portfolio. […] It supports innovation through adoption of the latest technologies and tools for generating new ideas for products, services, and tools. Sopra Steria’s unique ‘BizDevSecOps’ approach for end-to-end digital transformation supports effective communication and collaboration between businesses and team operations throughout the software development life cycle.”
“Sopra Steria is proud to be recognized once again as a leader in Cloud-Native Application Development Services by Quadrant Knowledge Solutions. Our commitment to innovation, customer-centricity, and excellence in service delivery has enabled us to maintain this position for the third consecutive year. We believe that our comprehensive approach to modern application development, supported by our Cloud Center of Excellence and Ingine Platform, empowers organizations to achieve their digital transformation goals efficiently and effectively.”, comments Yann Gloriau, Cloud expert at Sopra Steria.
Click here to know more.
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CONTACT: Aurélien Flaugnatti, [email protected]
 

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