Amadeus has announced its intention for a €1.2 billion acquisition of biometrics and identity services provider Idemia Public Security (IPS).
IPS currently has around 3,300 employees worldwide and serves more than 600 public and private sector customers and the company’s services include passenger processing, access control and government grade biometric identification and data solutions.
The acquisition will accelerate Amadeus’ growth in airports and border verticals and underlines its deliberate strategy to bring biometric identity capabilities into its core travel platform. “This demonstrates further our long-term commitment to biometrics as part of our broader platform strategy,” Luis Maroto, President and CEO, Amadeus said.
“Alongside AI, biometrics is one of the most transformative technologies for delivering fast, convenient, and secure end-to-end traveller journeys. This will enable us to deliver our services across more traveller touch points, in turn reducing friction, and improving the traveller experience, while supporting our ambition to further expand biometric capabilities, extending traveller ID throughout the journey.”
Decius Valmorbida, President, Travel, at Amadeus said: “In a fast-evolving AI-world the bridging of physical and digital identity will be critical for seamless travel. By combining Amadeus and IPS capabilities we will be able to create more joined-up travel journeys in the future, better connecting the travel ecosystem and linking the traveller to the different steps of the journey.”
The intended acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, with closing expected mid-2027.
