AIT - USA -, Inc. Announces Acquisition of Selected Assets of IMA, Inc.

Business Editors & High Tech Writers

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 19, 2001

AIT (USA), Inc., a leading provider of CRM solutions for the financial services industry, announced today that it has acquired selected operations and selected trading assets of Information Management Associates, Inc. (IMA), a U.S. provider of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and services. The acquisition price amounts to $16.5 million for selected IPR, customer contracts and operating and trading assets, specifically excluding any and all liabilities arising prior to completion.

IMA has more than 1,000 customers in multiple industries with 50,000 installed license seats in 27 countries. These licenses are supported by a combination of IMA's own staff and a network of indirect sales and services providers in the U.S. and Europe, including: Datapoint, Teledynamics, CPM, Kawatetsu, Avaya and Mitsucon. IMA's selected operations currently comprise a staff of more than 70 employees and offices in the U.S. (Meriden, CT and Irvine, CA), Australia (Melbourne) and the UK (London). This international network provides IMA with a large and loyal blue-chip customer base.

IMA operations in Europe will be integrated within AIT Limited in the UK. IMA operations in Australia will be re-established as AIT Australia, Pty. Additionally, U.S. operations, as well as operations in the remaining geographic regions, will be integrated within AIT (USA), Inc., located in Cleveland, OH. IMA intends to preserve its corporate branding in the near term to assist and facilitate communications and integration.

IMA has three core products including the EDGE product suite, which is the most widely installed and well known, providing scripted call center functionality. EDGE has a substantial blue-chip installed base, generating license, services and recurring maintenance revenues. AIT has worked closely with IMA on a large project at Lloyds TSB where AIT's CRM solution is being integrated with EDGE.

AIT's product range, led by Portrait, provides thin-client, multi-channel CRM functionality that is highly complementary to EDGE. As a result, the Board of AIT believes that significant long-term sales opportunities will arise for AIT Group as IMA's customers move towards broader-based CRM strategies that can be supported by AIT's Portrait product.

In the 12 months prior to June 30, 2001, IMA generated a $10.8 million turnover from continuing operations and a $200,000 profit before tax. As of June 30, 2001, the book value of assets acquired, net of deferred revenues, totaled $900,000.

AIT Group reported strong year-end financials with a 40% increase in pre-tax profit over the previous year, including cash balances of $16.1 million and total revenue of $47.4 million.

Commenting today, Carl Rigby, Chairman & CEO of AIT, said: "We are delighted with this acquisition of the selected assets of the IMA business. It brings a loyal and international blue-chip customer base and a geographically diverse direct and indirect sales channel through which AIT products can be sold. The transaction is expected to be `earnings enhancing' underpinned by a strong recurring revenue stream and attractive margin potential.

"Having previously worked closely with IMA and several of its channel partners, we look forward to continuing to work with IMA's highly experienced management team including Paul Frederick, President, and Michael McGroarty, COO and General Counsel. They have played an important role in turning the company around while maintaining customer relationships through a difficult period in the company's history.

"We believe that this acquisition is financially compelling in the short-term and, most importantly, will drive AIT's strategic goals in the medium to long-term."

Paul Frederick, President of IMA, said: "IMA is excited about the opportunity to further enhance its successful relationship with AIT. The acquisition will provide IMA with the opportunity to work alongside AIT's exceptional management team and to become a part of a quality CRM company.

"The main gap in our product offering, which contributed to our need to restructure, was the lack of web enabling and multi-channel capabilities required by our customer base. This issue will be successfully addressed by immediate access to AIT's Portrait product set and provides significant long-term opportunities for IMA customers. The EDGE and Portrait product lines offer outstanding integration and complementary potential which is news that has been extremely well received by our customers and partners."

Marketplace comments

Anne Gunther, Managing Director, Direct Channels, Lloyds TSB: "This is a fantastic opportunity for all parties. We have been working with IMA and AIT for some time now and products from both organizations play a significant role in our contact center strategy. The merger of the two companies will strengthen their existing relationship with Lloyds TSB and will ensure continued long-term investment in and support of our chosen products.

"The call center solutions we are implementing highlight the obvious synergy between the two products. The marriage of both development teams will provide a solid technology foundation for us to stay ahead of the market and will support Lloyds TSB in its drive to continue to provide first- class customer service."

Frank M. de Meijere, Managing Director, Teledynamics: "Teledynamics welcomes the news of the IMA and AIT merger with great enthusiasm. We have been a reseller of IMA products for many years and a significant portion of our client base uses EDGE very successfully as the core of their CRM solutions. We are excited about the combined company's product strategy as it expands product offerings with new options in addition to strengthening the growth and solution possibilities for current products.

"AIT's established presence in financial services combined with IMA's expertise in this industry in addition to others including Telecommunications and Utilities is an excellent complement to Teledynamics' core strengths and the needs of our clients."

Mary Coffin, Senior VP of Servicing, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage: "Wells Fargo Home Mortgage has installed IMA products in multiple divisions with great success. The future of IMA and its products is tremendously important to Wells. The merger of these two companies presents many outstanding opportunities. The combined company's product strategy will now be expanded to not only solidify the future of EDGE, but also provide for new integration opportunities, and tremendous migration possibilities for Wells including native web-developed, multi-channel, financial services eCRM solutions.

"The merger of the two companies will strengthen the solid relationship IMA and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage have already forged."

About Information Management Associates, Inc.

IMA was founded in 1984 and has since sold software and services which provide a scalable, powerful software product to manage the combination of sales, marketing, automation and lead acquisition that comprises the modern call-center. In 1991, products marketed under the EDGE trademark quickly became a standard for excellence in CRM.

About AIT (USA), Inc.

AIT is a leading provider of best-of-breed CRM solutions for the financial services industry. With the ability to integrate into existing legacy systems, AIT's thin-client, scalable application software provides a single view of each customer in real-time across multiple channels, including the call center, branch, wireless device and Internet. The result is a selling and servicing solution that enables an organization to create lifelong, profitable customer relationships. For 15 years, AIT has developed its industry knowledge by successfully delivering solutions for clients such as American General, The Woolwich, Lloyds TSB, NatWest and KeyCorp. AIT (USA), Inc. is a subsidiary of AIT Group plc, based in the UK. Please visit www.ait-us.com, or call 1-866-4-PORTRAIT for more information about AIT.