Wolters Kluwer makes two major purchases.

Wolters Kluwer, the Amsterdam-headquartered multinational information services company, and Loislaw.com Inc. recently entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of Loislaw.com Inc. to Wolters Kluwer for approximately net $95 million, or $4.3545 per share.

When the sale is completed, Loislaw will become a unit of Aspen Publishers, Gaithersburg, Maryland, a provider of legal, business and healthcare information and a Wolters Kluwer North America company. Aspen has annual sales of about $150 million.

Loislaw, based in Van Buren, Arkansas, is a national provider of primary and secondary source material for legal research that is delivered on a subscription basis over the internet.

Loislaw provides more than 2,200 databases and citation research services, containing more than 10 million documents, covering federal case law, statutory law, administrative law, court rules and other legal information.

Its Lois LawWatch [TM] provides personalized, intelligent search agents that automatically and continuously search the Loislaw website and then notifies subscribers when new documents match their search criteria.

Loislaw's primary subscribers are mid-size and small law firms (typically with fewer than 20 lawyers), corporate legal departments, and judges that depend on the company for current and accurate primary and secondary legal information.

In addition, the company provides Loislawschool.com to faculty and students in 95 percent of the American Bar Association-accredited law schools.

Loislaw.com founder and CEO Kyle D. Parker said, "Loislaw has been very successful in meeting the affordable, primary legal research needs of firms and sole practitioners. This transaction allows us to deliver even greater value and a broader array of products and services to our customers."

Loislaw currently employs about 400 and has projected 2000 sales of about $14 million.

IHS Financial Information also purchased

Wolters Kluwer North America also recently acquired the assets of IHS Financial Information Inc. from the HIS Group, Englewood, Colorado.

The purchase includes more than 700 electronic and print products for the tax, securities, legal, human resources, healthcare, and small business markets.

In addition to Aspen Publishers, Wolters Kiuwer North America also comprises CCH Incorporated, CCH Canadian, CCH Legal Information Services and CCH Tax Compliance.

The parent Wolters Kluwer employs 18,000 people in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

Its annual sales are more than EUR 3 billion (1999).