IT services firm, Atos, is set to purchase its French counterpart Bull in an attempt to secure its place as the top cloud computing and cybersecurity company in Europe. The deal is believed to be worth €620 million ($845 million) and is expected to close at the end of this summer.

Atos said that the deal between the two companies would enhance its offerings in manufacturing, the public sector and healthcare , and increase its presence “mainly in France, but also in geographies such as Iberia, Poland, Africa and Brazil”.

“Bull will bring critical and complementary capabilities in big data which, combined with Atos solutions, will create a unique offering in this high-growth segment,” the company said.

According to reports, the cloud market is growing at a compound annual rate of 25 and 50 percent a year. The announcement of the deal will undoubtedly alarm other cloud service providers. Atos and Bull are currently ranked 5 and 10 respectively in Western Europe, and their partnership would place at them at the number two spot by revenue, just behind Amazon and ahead of Microsoft.

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