The EIP market is hot! Today DVIN gets into the major leagues with a major acquisition. I believe that this will transform them into a major player right away.
divine Announces Acquisition of Certain marchFIRST Assets
Acquisition of 19 marchFIRST Offices and Other Assets, Including Outstanding Receivables, Creates Wholly Owned Subsidiary divine/Whittman-Hart
biz.yahoo.com
CHICAGO, April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- divine, inc., (Nasdaq: DVIN - news) announced today that it acquired certain assets from marchFIRST, Inc. (Nasdaq: MRCH - news), including its Central Region business unit, outstanding receivables and certain regional operations. divine also agreed to purchase marchFIRST's SAP implementation practice, its HostOne application hosting unit, and other strategically important assets in a separate deal subject to regulatory approval. The operations being acquired are primarily those of the former Whittman-Hart, Inc., a leading Chicago-based provider of enterprise e-business solutions. divine will establish a new wholly owned subsidiary comprising the acquired operations, which will be named divine/Whittman-Hart and will provide a range of enterprise technology, hosting, e-business strategy and brand- building services that deepen divine's enterprise interaction management solutions.
``The people of marchFIRST have been through hell this last year, and we believe the experience has tempered their mettle. We fully understand and empathize with the experience,'' said divine Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andrew ``Flip'' Filipowski. ``Today's market conditions and these circumstances should not overshadow the passion, energy and talent of these individuals, their long list of achievements, their historic and top-tier customer base, and their ability to provide incredible value to our combined enterprise customers now and in the future. divine/Whittman-Hart is a critical component of our three-pronged strategy of delivering best-of-breed Web software solutions, e-business services, and managed applications. divine/Whittman-Hart is being formed from what we believe are the gems within marchFIRST. Together as members of the divine family we become a single united force. We have something to prove and we are loaded for bear.''
divine is acquiring much of the operations of the former Whittman-Hart, a few other superior performing operations, as well as other strategically important assets, including marchFIRST's HostOne application hosting unit, which will become part of divine's managed application business; its award-winning SAP business primarily headquartered in Denver, Colo.; its value-added reseller (VAR) business; the iCampus training and technology unit; and marchFIRST's Asian joint ventures, which will provide a platform for divine's sales in Asia. Also, divine is acquiring the assets of BlueVector, marchFIRST's venture capital arm, which will become part of the divine interVentures subsidiary.
``This deal structure allows divine to acquire a significant amount of strategic revenue with attractive terms, including long-term financing,'' said divine Chief Financial Officer Michael Cullinane. ``Given the deep talent pool and marquee customer base we are acquiring, and the perfect fit with our strategy, this is an appropriately priced transaction for the risks inherent in today's marketplace.''
``Knowing that one component of our strategy required a global services and deployment organization to complement our product and managed application business, we proactively have been looking for an appropriate set of service targets,'' said divine Chief Operating Officer Paul Humenansky. ``This combination provides divine an opportunity, on a very cost-effective basis, to acquire a significant base deployment and services capability that we believe would be far more costly and time consuming to grow organically. Perhaps even more importantly, we acquire top-notch talent, a tremendous enterprise customer base and foundation of business. The icing on the deal is that, with HostOne, we get a considerable contribution to the build out of our managed application business.''
divine/Whittman-Hart
Certain acquired marchFIRST operations will become a wholly owned subsidiary of divine, named divine/Whittman-Hart. Headquarters will be integrated with divine's operations based in Chicago and include offices in Austin, Texas; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas; Detroit; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Hong Kong; Houston; Indianapolis; Irvine, Calif.; Los Angeles; Milwaukee; Minneapolis; Pittsburgh; Santa Monica, Calif.; St. Louis; and Toronto. There also will be the SAP practice based in Denver and the HostOne business in Herndon, Va. The new subsidiary will have approximately 2,100 employees, including 700 based in Chicago. Edward V. Szofer, chief development officer of marchFIRST and the president of Whittman-Hart prior to the acquisition of USWeb last year, will become president of the new subsidiary and join the management team of divine, inc.
``The Whittman-Hart brand name has a tremendous reputation for excellence in client satisfaction and commitment to building strong client relationships,'' Szofer said. ``Our employees are excited to be able to show what the new organization can deliver. We believe that divine/Whittman-Hart will be profitable while generating over $250 million annually right from the starting gate. We begin this new chapter with a dedication to prove ourselves in the eyes of our loyal stakeholders, fellow employees, customers, shareholders and communities in which we do business. Both Flip and I are enormously thankful that we have been able to retain a significant group of extremely talented individuals and especially in our common headquarters location in Chicago. I, and the entire management team of divine, only wish we could have circumstances and a business environment that allowed us to bring with us more of the outstanding individuals from marchFIRST. These have been extremely difficult decisions and we do not take lightly the consequences of what needed to get done, but we are positioned to succeed and have a chance to position divine as a premier global software, services and managed applications company.''
The acquired marchFIRST operations have a current client base of more than 350 predominantly Fortune 1000 companies. Its solutions include customer relationship management, e-commerce strategy and development, knowledge management and business intelligence, supply chain and business systems, infrastructure planning, and brand and market development.
Robertson Stephens acted as an advisor for divine on this transaction.
About divine, inc.
divine, inc., (Nasdaq: DVIN - news) develops and markets leading enterprise interaction management solutions for the global enterprise. divine's enterprise-scale Web-based software solutions, leading-edge services, and managed applications businesses are the principal components of its integrated vertical business solutions. Together these solutions greatly expand access to a company's core business processes and harness the power of the internal and external information sources that drive their business. The divine best-of-breed software platform and targeted business solutions empower company stakeholders with the ability to collaborate and to efficiently gather and focus critical real-time information in order to increase productivity, make more informed decisions, and increase loyalty in their business community. divine's services capabilities combine world-class strategy, technical implementation, branding, and integrated marketing capabilities to assure successful outcomes of leading-edge e-business solutions. Founded in 1999, Chicago-based divine is a leader in promoting the development and growth of new technologies, products, and services that dramatically change how businesses manage information, engage their constituents, and develop new market opportunities, positioning them for success through future advances in the business Internet. For more information, visit the company's web site at www.divine.com . |
