Hummingbird Announces Agreement To Acquire RedDot Solutions
Hummingbird Ltd. (NASDAQ: HUMC, TSX: HUM), a leading provider of integrated enterprise content management (ECM) solutions, today announced the acquisition of RedDot(TM) Solutions AG, a privately held provider of content management software, headquartered in Oldenburg Germany and New York. With over 1,300 clients globally, RedDot Solutions is recognized as a leader in delivering simple to install and easy to use content management solutions to mid-size enterprises.
The acquisition of RedDot Solutions is a natural extension of a long-standing and successful partnership the two companies have forged to address the needs of mutual customers for integrated enterprise content management solutions. The partnership has created a strong foundation for product integration and market development, resulting in demonstrated traction for the joint solution.
Hummingbird acquired the shares of RedDot Solutions for an initial cash consideration of Euro 39.1 million (US dollar 47.5 million) and an additional cash consideration estimated at approximately Euro 4.5 million (US dollar 5.5 million) payable after December 31, 2005, based upon performance targets.
RedDot Solutions will function as a subsidiary of Hummingbird and will continue to serve all its existing clients globally. The executive management of RedDot will remain in charge of operations. "The acquisition represents the next phase of our accelerated growth to mid-size enterprises for content management solutions," said Niels Metger, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of RedDot Solutions. "Our content management suite is a natural fit with Hummingbird Enterprise as they share a common foundation for providing scalable out-of-the-box functionality, rapid deployment and low cost of total ownership," added Metger.
The acquisition strengthens Hummingbird's position as a market leader in the integrated Enterprise Content Management market segment. "Consistent with our philosophy of delivering customer and shareholder value we have first built a successful partnership and a customer base with RedDot Solutions," said Barry Litwin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hummingbird Ltd. "We now have a fully developed and complementary business model already in place, an integration that is fully supported by Hummingbird, and traction within our respective customer bases that will further benefit from this acquisition," added Litwin.
The combination of RedDot Solutions and Hummingbird will deliver unrivalled value to customers and partners enabling them to:
- Address the accelerated demand for enterprise content management solutions with an integrated platform.
- Extend Hummingbird Enterprise with a proven Web Content Management (WCM) solution within the Hummingbird installed base of G2000 enterprise class customers.
- Extend and accelerate market reach within midsize enterprises where the demand for enterprise content management solutions will outpace all other segments of the market.
- Accelerate access to market presence that the two companies bring to the acquisition. RedDot Solutions has built an impressive list of marquis customers in Continental Europe and has outpaced its direct competitors in North America for mid-market customers, whereas Hummingbird has established market leadership within the G2000 market segment.
- Create a highly complementary business model where the RedDot product suite is cross licensed to the existing installed base of Hummingbird customers, while the Hummingbird suite is cross licensed in a similar manner to the RedDot installed base of mid-market customers, creating an integrated supply chain that extends to the broadest market segments the two companies already serve.
- Infuse the expertise and innovation of the RedDot Solutions technical organization with Hummingbird's R&D expertise in delivering advanced technologies. By virtue of this acquisition RedDot Solutions becomes the center of excellence for the delivery of Web Content Management (WCM) technologies.
About Hummingbird Enterprise
Hummingbird Enterprise provides an integrated platform for enterprise content management that provides global organizations with solutions to manage business interaction information such as documents, records, virtual deal room exchanges, discussions, e-mail or financial data - linking business processes, information and people. Hummingbird solutions are designed as modular applications that are fully interoperable with each other, enabling customers to incrementally build an enterprise content management solution to meet their evolving information needs in a cost effective manner.
About Hummingbird
Hummingbird Ltd. (NASDAQ: HUMC, TSX: HUM) is a leading global provider of enterprise software solutions. Hummingbird's enterprise content management (ECM) solutions enable organizations to manage the lifecycle of enterprise content from creation to disposition. Hummingbird Enterprise solutions enable organizations to address critical business needs, such as information management, business continuity, compliance and risk mitigation.
Founded in 1984, Hummingbird employs over 1,400 people and serves more than 33,000 customers, including 90% of Fortune 100. Hummingbird solutions are sold directly from 40 offices worldwide and through its Alliance Network of partners and resellers. For more information, visit www.hummingbird.com.
About RedDot Solutions
RedDot Solutions provides enterprise content management software to create and manage the content that drives business. Recognized throughout the industry as the fastest to implement and easiest to use, RedDot's XCMS (Extended Content Management System) is a scalable and personalized solution for Web content and document management, business process workflow, and collaboration. RedDot Solutions has more than 1,300 clients worldwide, including Federal Express, The New York Times, March of Dimes, Bank of New York, Kraft, Honda and Starbucks, who rely on RedDot to increase productivity, improve operational efficiency and reduce risk. Headquartered in New York and Germany, RedDot has offices in Santa Clara, Toronto, Australia, Brazil and throughout Europe, including its newest office in Austria. For more information, please visit: www.reddot.com.