France’s Safran to buy US biometrics and security firm L-1 Identity Solutions for $1.1 bln

Safran to buy US biometrics firm for $1.1 bln

PARIS — Safran SA says it will pay $1.1 billion to buy Stamford, Connecticut-based security firm L-1 Identity Solutions Inc. to bolster its presence in the U.S. homeland security market.

Paris-based Safran says the combination of L-1’s biometric and enterprise access businesses with its existing U.S. security business, Morpho, will have joint sales of about euro1.4 billion ($1.8 billion), with U.S. sales accounting for almost half of that.

Safran announced the acquisition in a statement Monday.