VeriSign Acquires Thawte Consulting
Acquisition of #2 Provider of Website Digital Certificates Extends VeriSign's Leadership in Internet Trust Services
December 20, 1999 07:30 AM
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- VeriSign, Inc. VRSN , the leading provider of Internet trust services, today announced that it has acquired privately held Thawte Consulting of South Africa, the world's second largest provider of digital certificates to websites and software developers. The acquisition further extends VeriSign's leadership in delivering the trust infrastructure needed by businesses, individuals and software developers to secure a wide range of online communications and transactions over the Internet.
"Establishing a consistent, globally-interoperable trust infrastructure for the Internet has been our mission since day one," said Stratton Scalvos, president and CEO of VeriSign. "The combination of VeriSign and Thawte's customer bases, widely-deployed digital certificate root keys and highly-skilled engineering and customer-service organizations will enable us to provide unparalleled trust services to websites, developers, ISPs and other constituencies across the Internet."
The stock VeriSign will issue in this transaction will have an aggregate market value of $575 million. The exact number of shares will be determined based on the trading price of VeriSign common stock prior to the closing date. The acquisition will be accounted for as a purchase transaction. The transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including the need to obtain certain regulatory approvals in South Africa and other customary conditions.
As a combined entity, VeriSign and Thawte will be able to implement a consistent set of global standards for the issuance and management of digital certificates for websites and software developers. VeriSign currently serves all of the Top 40 e-commerce sites and Fortune 500 companies with a web presence, and thousands of other sites with its range of Secure Site, Global Site and Code-Signing and certificate services. Thawte has built a strong franchise through a widely distributed agent network in over 22 countries around the world. Together, the companies have over 3300 ISPs, ASPs and Web Hosting companies acting as resellers of their services. They are also the only two digital certificate providers with commercial availability of 128-bit website certificates, which enable highly strong encryption in both domestic and export versions of Microsoft and Netscape browsers.
"We are thrilled to join forces with VeriSign to enable a worldwide foundation for e-commerce," said Mark Shuttleworth, president and CEO of Thawte Consulting. "By combining our respective operations, teams and customer bases, we will be able to serve a broader set of customers under on common set of trust principles across the Internet."
About VeriSign
VeriSign, Inc. is the leading provider of Internet trust services and digital certificate solutions needed by Web sites, enterprises and e-commerce service providers in order to conduct trusted and secure electronic commerce and communications over IP networks. VeriSign's trust services for Web sites, developers and individuals are available through www.verisign.com and through a growing number of ISPs and Web hosting companies. The company's digital certificate services for enterprises and electronic commerce service providers are available through regional account representatives, resellers, and global affiliates.
VeriSign is a registered trademark exclusively licensed to VeriSign, Inc.
About Thawte
Thawte Certification is a global provider of digital certification products, services and solutions that create security, privacy and authentication in electronic commerce. Thawte offers a range of certificate solutions that encompass Internet security, extranet security, email security and Enterprise PKI requirements.
Thawte was started in 1995 and is now one of the largest Internet Certificate Authorities worldwide, with offices in both the United States and South Africa, and representation in more than 22 countries. Thawte has issued tens of thousands of certificates to Internet e-commerce web servers and for secure email and software distribution.
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to VeriSign's ability to integrate the operations, technology, and customers of Thawte, that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, both companies' limited operating history, which makes the prediction of future operating results difficult; the rate at which the Internet and other IP networks are adopted for communications and commerce; market acceptance of digital certificates and the products and services of VeriSign and Thawte in particular; competitive factors; interruptions or security breaches in the company's systems; acquisition related risks such as the need to obtain certain regulatory approvals in South Africa; the ability of the company to integrate Thawte's products and services, personnel and operations; VeriSign's ability to retain Thawte's customers and key personnel; and the company's ability to manage a larger, more geographically dispersed company. More information about potential factors which could affect the company's financial results is included in the final prospectus for VeriSign's follow-up on offering dated January 26, 1999 and the company's other reports filed with the SEC. VeriSign assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.
SOURCE VeriSign, Inc.
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