I doubt this pushed the stock down, but another acquisition has taken place. Any comments?
Friday February 11, 2:02 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Geac Acquires Real Estate Unit From GTE Enterprise Initiatives Incorporated
TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 11, 2000-- (TSE:GAC. - news)
Adds Customer Base and Products to Real Estate Industry's Most Complete Source for Internet Technology Solutions
Geac Computer Corporation Limited (TSE:GAC - news) announced today that it has acquired the Real Estate unit of GTE Enterprise Initiatives, Incorporated, a subsidiary of GTE Corporation.
GTE Enterprise Initiatives/- Real Estate unit is one of the leading providers of technology solutions to the real estate industry, primarily Multiple Listing Systems. With revenues of approximately CDN $19 million the unit has locations in Vancouver, British Columbia, Tampa, Florida and Kirkland, Washington. Geac plans to immediately merge the acquired operations with its Interealty division headquartered in Vienna, Virginia. Geac believes that as a result of the acquisition, it will be able to offer the most complete source for Real Estate technology in the marketplace.
Specifically with this acquisition, Geac is acquiring a fully developed, highly sophisticated suite of software used by real estate agents to list, manage, search and transmit information on properties for sale. Used every day by listing and selling agents, System 4(TM) manages the complex technology environment created by aggregating and maintaining enormous databases. Internet access to the databases allows agents to conduct searches of homes and properties, from any location, and design reports customer-tailored to their client's needs.
Michael Harris, President of Geac Property Systems commented, ``Along with the significant client base and industry leading personnel, one of the key assets acquired in this transaction is GTE's flagship product, System 4(TM). Released in 1998, this solution has been successfully implemented at several large sites across the U.S and has gained significant market share in a short period of time. When added to Interealty, System 4(TM) will provide to Geac the most complete advantage in this rapidly evolving marketplace. It will help to complete the foundation which Interealty has been building around our MLS business in order to offer better integration and automation of the entire real estate transaction process.'
Interealty has had a very successful past year of Internet based product introductions including Net.ADs(TM) and HomeSuite(TM). Net.ADs(TM) allows brokers to manage their advertising orders by consolidating ads and budgets from hundreds of broker offices into one inventory system feeding dozens of publications. This streamlined process offers it users significant cost savings over current methods. HomeSuite is a complete business to business solution that allows the real estate agents to leverage upon the relationship with their clients by giving them Internet access to various home ownership services providers.
Other significant initiatives include real estate Broker Web design and hosting such as provided to Coldwell Banker. The Coldwellbanker.com site was recently cited by CIO magazine as one of the 50 best business sites available on the World Wide Web. Arthur Andersen's new Internet strategy book entitled; The Clickable Corporation holds the Web site up as a ``savvy and interactive tool' that ``clicks with choice'.
Douglas Bergeron, Geac's President and CEO concluded, ``The acquisition of GTE Enterprise Initiative's Real Estate unit compliments many of the core competencies of our Interealty division. With this acquisition, Geac will serve more than 250,000 agents across North America and we will become the second largest provider of such services in North America. In addition, we will offer our complete suite of real estate solutions to this extensive, newly-acquired GTE customer base.'
Geac Computer Corporation Limited (Toronto Stock Exchange Symbol: GAC - news) is a provider of mission critical software and systems solutions to corporations around the world. Geac solutions include cross-industry enterprise business applications for financial administration and human resources functions, and enterprise resource planning applications for manufacturing, distribution, and supply chain management. Geac provides several industry-specific mission critical business applications to the hospitality, property, banking, and publishing marketplaces, as well as a wide range of applications for libraries and public safety administration. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Geac ranks as one of the world's largest software companies. Further information is available on the World Wide Web at geac.com, or through e-mail at info@geac.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations. These forward-looking statements entail various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in these forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in Management Discussion and Analysis published in the Company's annual report.
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Contact:
Geac Property Systems
Michael Harris, 416/642-1960
416/642-8454 (FAX)
Email: michael.harris@geac.com
or
GTE Corporation
Bobbi Hennessey, 972/507-6125
888-725-0572 (Pager)
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