Priority One, Monday April 12, 12:56 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Message 8857466
CBQ Adds Internet Payment Processing Technology
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 12, 1999--CBQ Inc. (OTC BB:CBQI) announced today that it is in the process of completing its acquisition of Priority One Electronic Commerce Corporation (''Priority One'') of Akron, Pa., and expects to
finalize the transaction within days. CBQ's recent purchase of Reliance Technologies, as well as the anticipated acquisition of
Priority One this week, are evidence of CBQ's continued strategic moves to gain marketshare in the exploding e-commerce area of the Internet. In addition, CBQ will gain a 10% equity interest in CitX Corporation, (''CitX'') of Quakertown, Pa., as part of the Priority One acquisition.
Priority One and CitX acquisitions will add talent and technology to enhance CBQ's competency in providing e-commerce solutions for businesses selling to other businesses online.
Priority One is a leader in Internet electronic payment processing. Priority One's proprietary Bill Collect(tm) system relieves sellers from the burden of sending out invoices, waiting for checks to arrive in the mail, and dealing with accounts receivable collections. Bill Collect is a high-tech, automated system handling electronic funds transfers (ETF) and credit card payments for Internet e-commerce businesses and traditional sales companies.
CitX develops and markets business-to-business, e-commerce solutions. CitX, along with Priority One, jointly developed Bill Collect as well as additional technology and software used in Priority One's Payment Processing Center. In addition, CitX has developed a unique Web-enabled integrated, business-to-business, e-commerce platform, Intrapay(tm), to collect and disburse payments via the Internet.
CBQ's foothold in the fast growing area of business-to-business, e-commerce is significantly improved by the acquired talent and technology of both Priority One and CitX. In addition, CBQ's potential marketshare is increased due to an exclusive agreement between the three companies to jointly market each others services to each companies customer base. The acquisition of Priority One and its customer base, coupled with the joint marketing of
integrated Intrapay/Bill Collect services to CitX customer base, could produce additional revenues in excess of $10 million in 1999 for CBQ.
Commenting on the transaction, Michael L. Sheriff, chief executive officer of CBQ stated,'' The acquisition of Priority One and their Bill Collect electronic check clearing system, are steps forward in our strategy to become a dominant provider of Internet-based, e-commerce solutions.''
Sidney Lieberman, chairman of Priority One, stated ''Our new relationship with CBQ will afford us access to hundreds of Internet retailers, as well as provide much-needed assistance in marketing our services to new customers.''
''We are excited about the opportunity to work with CBQ as our new strategic partner in the e-commerce space,'' said Bernie Roemmele, CEO of CitX Corporation. ''By combining our core competencies, and resources we will be able to quickly expand our customer base and move more aggressively into new vertical market opportunities.''
''One of our first joint projects will be to integrate the CitX IntraEuroX, Intrapay, and SETX business-to-business e-commerce technology into the CBQ Bid4it Auction system, and re-deploy it as an international business-to-business vertical auction solution platform,'' continued Roemmele.
Priority One is a three-year-old leading high-tech company providing business-to-business electronic payment processing services that enable businesses to electronically collect and disburse payment in the form of electronic funds transfers (EFT) and credit cards.
One of Priority One's flagship services, Bill Collect(tm), enables businesses to collect their receivables electronically, via the Internet or Direct-Dial-up gateway, on the date due. The Bill Collect system can be fully integrated with the retailer's software so that information on credit card charges and EFT authorizations can be combined in the same batch transaction and uploaded directly and simultaneously to Priority One, through the phone lines or via the
Internet, without any additional data entry.
Bill Collect was codeveloped by Priority One along with strategic venture partner, CitX. Priority One was founded in 1996, by Sidney Lieberman, Chairman, and principle shareholder.
CitX Corporation is a privately-held, leading high-tech company that primarily develops and markets business-to-business e-commerce solutions, Community-Centric Portals, and Network-Centric (Web-Hosted) software applications, delivered securely across the Internet and private heterogeneous networks.
CitX's Intrapay platform is comprised of various service modules, which clients may subscribe to, providing cost-effective, enterprise-wide, EDI and Y2K compliant e-commerce functionality, and direct interface between their current legacy systems, and the Priority One Bill Collect service.
Most of CitX's products and services are provided on a fee-for-use basis and are available through its many strategic partners, system integrators, independent representatives, and direct online users. The CitX management team has more than 8 years experience in providing Web-Hosted software applications, Electronic Commerce solutions, and Community-Centric Portals for many vertical markets such as business-to-business, Healthcare, Insurance, Banking, Retail, Organizations, and the Government .
CitX has also developed specialized Community-Centric Portals, and an Extranet called HCSIN.NET that currently services more than 50,000
healthcare professionals throughout the United States.
CitX has formed strategic partnerships with Redix, NCR Corp., Priority One ECC, Bell Atlantic, Alternative Link, and others to effectively deploy secure Internet-based, Business-to-Business Electronic Commerce Solutions, Community-Centric Portals, and Web-hosted software applications, for small businesses as well as the corporate enterprise.
CBQ's wholly owned subsidiary, CyberQuest Inc. is the developer of www.bid4it.com, a virtual, Internet-based marketplace based on the principles of securities trading. bid4it is a completely automated electronic marketplace that produces a ''true'' market price of products based on the open market interaction between bidders and sellers. Bidders electronically bid (''Bid'') on desired products and may modify or delete their bids at any time before the Bid matches a Sellers ''asking price'' (''Ask''). The Seller may accept any Bid at any time and may modify or delete their Ask at any time before it
matches a Bid. bid4it allows sellers to compete in a worldwide market for the buyers of all types of products.
CyberQuest's CyberMarketMaker(tm) integrates the best features of securities trading and an auction market. Bidding activity is continually analyzed and asking prices moved up or down in response to market activity. When a ''bid'' and ''ask'' match, the transaction is electronically completed, and the product is ordered and shipped to the buyer with instant notification to all parties.
For more information about CyberQuest visit www.bid4it.com (bid4it Web site) and www.cbq.com (Corporate Web site).
For more information about CitX call 215/538-3535, email bernie@citx.net, or visit the CitX web site at citx.net.
bid4it and CyberMarketMaker are trademarks of CyberQuest, Inc. CyberQuest sub-licenses the bid4it software and related technologies to interested parties.
NOTE: All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
This press release includes forward-looking statements related to CBQ, Inc. that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, quarterly fluctuations in results, the management of growth, market acceptance of certain products and other risks. These forward-looking statements are made in reliance on the ''safe-harbor'' provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For further information about these factors that could
affect CBQ's future results, please see the Company's filings with the Security and Exchange Commission (the ''Commission''). Prospective investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from management expectations.
Contact:
CBQ, Inc., Dallas
Michael Sheriff, 972/732-1100
sheriff@cbq.com
or
Magnum Financial Group
Michael Manahan, 213/488-0443
msmanahan@magnumfinancial.com |
