Nurun and Antartica Group Enter Into Strategic
Partnership
MAY 18, 2000
SANTIAGO, CHILE--
Partners to develop aggressive growth-by-acquisition plan for
Latin American market
In the presence of the Prime Minister of Quebec, Mr. Lucien
Bouchard, in Santiago as part of Quebec Mission, NURUN Inc., a
subsidiary of the Quebecor Inc. group and formerly known as
Informission Group Inc., announced today that the Company has
entered into a strategic partnership with Antartica Group, a
Chilean printing, publishing and retailing group operating in
Latin America. The two companies aim to develop an aggressive
growth-by-acquisition plan that will position the companies as
leaders in Latin America's e-commerce, Internet development and
Web integration markets.
According to the terms of a preliminary development plan, the
companies intend to make an initial investment of more than US$10
million over the next 12-18 months in order to acquire companies
in Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. In addition to the
partners' financial strength, the partnership will benefit from
NURUN's technical expertise and international presence, and from
Antartica's extensive network in Latin America. In principle,
NURUN will obtain control of all acquired companies.
Antartica Group already has a strong relationship with NURUN's
sister company QuebecorWorld. This partnership, established in
1997, allowed Quebecor's Latin American operations to become the
leading South American printer. Quebecor together with the
Antartica Group now has operations in Chile, Argentina, Colombia
and Peru, in addition to operations in Mexico and strategic
partnerships in Brazil.
"Our relationship with Antartica Group has allowed us to grow our
Latin American printing activities considerably and we now expect
to repeat this success in the e-business market," said Pierre Karl
Peladeau, President and CEO of Quebecor and Chairman of NURUN.
"NURUN's development strategy in Latin America will resemble the
strategy it has executed over the last six months, which resulted
in acquisitions of companies operating in Paris, New York,
Toronto, Boston, Ottawa and Chicago. Quebecor is very committed
to making NURUN an international leader in e-business."
"We are very excited about the know-how that NURUN brings to the
table," said Carlos Aguirre, President of Antartica Group. "We
have extended Quebecor's printing expertise to many of our
entrepreneurial activities with great success. In close
cooperation with our management team, we will now open doors for
NURUN, extending its technology to our network and to all
companies who could benefit from their e-commerce and Web
integration solutions."
"The acquisition plan of NURUN and Antartica Group testifies to
the importance of international development for Quebec companies,
especially in a promising sector like electronic commerce,"
declared the Prime Minister of Quebec.
NURUN Inc.
NURUN Inc. (Formerly Informission Group Inc.; TSE: IFN), a
subsidiary of the Quebecor Inc. group, is an information
technology company providing e-commerce, Web integration and
automated publishing solutions for corporate and public sector
clients in North America, Europe and select locations around the
world. NURUN employs more than 1000 professionals in its various
offices in Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Ottawa, Seattle, New York,
Boston, Chicago and Paris.
Antartica Group
Antartica Group includes companies in printing, publishing and
book retail sectors of Latin America. With more than forty years
in the publishing business, Antartica Group has made its presence
in the bookstore business as the most important chain in the
Chilean market. In the printing business, together with partner
Quebecor, Antartica Group has printing plants in Chile, Argentina,
Peru and Columbia, with more than 1600 employees. |
