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Pitney Bowes to Acquire FirstlogicBy DAVID R. BUTCHER, Assistant Editor, Customer Interaction Solutions
Pitney Bowes Inc. this morning announced the company has signed a definitive agreement to acquire all remaining outstanding shares of Firstlogic for approximately $50.3 million. The payment excludes cash and debt on the balance sheet.
Pitney Bowes, a provider of integrated mail and document management systems, services and solutions, currently has 10 percent equity ownership of the privately held company, which develops and markets software and services for improving operations in data quality, mailing efficiency and postal automation. Upon completion of this transaction, Firstlogic will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Pitney Bowes within Document Messaging Technologies. The transaction is expected to close in the third calendar quarter of 2005, subject to regulatory approval and completion of other customary conditions.
The merger supports Pitney Bowes’ continuing long-term goal to deliver added value for customers and growth for shareholders, according to Michael J. Critelli, Pitney Bowes chairman and CEO, in the company’s acquisition announcement. The $5.3 billion company currently employs approximately 35,000 people worldwide.
With the acquisition of Group 1 Software last year, the 85-year-old company entered the growing $4 billion customer communication management market. The acquisition of Firstlogic is aimed at extending Pitney Bowes’ platform by giving its customers a more comprehensive portfolio of software, services and solutions. As well, the company is looking forward to Firstlogic’s extensive relationships with top-tier system integrators and enterprise software vendors, as they will have the opportunity to enhance Pitney Bowes’ distribution network and accelerate its global expansion.
La Crosse, Wisconsin-based Firstlogic generated more than $55 million in revenue last year as it provided commercial customers, government agencies and post offices with data quality, commercial mail and postal automation software and services. The company currently employs 400 employees.
“This does not change our mission — it makes it better,” said Firstlogic President Eric Lieberman in the announcement. “Our customers will benefit by being able to choose from a broad portfolio of products that complement our core technologies.”
For more information about this acquisition and the companies involved, visit www.pb.com and www.firstlogic.com.
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David R. Butcher is Assistant Editor of Customer Interaction Solutions. To see more articles by David Butcher, please visit:
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