Disposal & Strategic Review O

RNS Number : 8598F

Experian plc

15 October 2008

 



                                                    Experian plc

Disposal agreement in France and outcome of strategic review of    

                                          PriceGrabber

Experian, the global information services company, announces an agreement to dispose of its transaction processing activities in France and reports the outcome of the PriceGrabber strategic review.

Transaction processing activities in France

Experian announces that it has reached an agreement to sell its transaction processing activities in France, which includes its card processing and business process outsourcing activities, to Advent International and Doc@Post (a subsidiary of La Poste) respectively. The sale is subject to certain conditions precedent, including clearance from the French competition authorities. Completion is currently expected to occur before the end of 2008. 

The agreed gross cash consideration is €203m, on a debt and cash free basis. After taxes and other transaction costs net cash inflow is estimated to be approximately €150m. Proceeds from the sale will be used to repay bank borrowings. For the year ended 31 March 2008, revenue from Experian's transaction processing activities in France was €240m (US$341m) and EBIT was €26m (US$37m). 

The transaction processing activities in France will be treated as a discontinued operation in the statutory financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2009, and as such henceforth will be excluded from organic revenue growth and Benchmark profit before tax and Benchmark EPS.

Experian continues to have a strong presence in France, through its Decision Analytics and Marketing Services activities, which form part of its growing core activities. 

PriceGrabber strategic review

In February, Experian also announced that it was undertaking a review of PriceGrabber and its fit within the Experian portfolio. As part of this process, Experian considered a divestment of the business and talked to a number of parties. However, in light of the current funding environment for potential buyers, Experian has concluded that at this time divestment is not in the best interests of shareholders. 

PriceGrabber is an attractive business, with good prospects, which has performed well since acquisition. Experian will continue to strengthen PriceGrabber's market position through new product innovation, driving traffic volumes and leveraging the core infrastructure.

Enquiries

Experian

Paul Brooks                    Chief Financial Officer                [phone]

Nadia Ridout-Jamieson    Director of Investor Relations    

Alex Brog                        Head of Media Relations    

Finsbury

Rollo Head                                                                     [phone]

Don Hunter

Experian announcements are available on www.experianplc.com

Notes

1. Experian's transaction processing business in France is one of the leading providers of payment processing and business process outsourcing services in the country, offering a wide range of outsourced back-office, card management, payment processing and business information solutions to banks, corporates and public institutions.

2. Doc@Post is a leading player in the document process and management industry  and is a fully owned subsidiary of La Poste. The company provides document management solutions and services for banks, corporate and public institutions and has 2,600 employees and 300 processing sites in France.

3. Advent International is a leading global private equity firm with offices in 15 countries across four continents. Advent has a proven expertise in the global payments and transaction processing sector with nine investments in this field worldwide. For more information, visit www.adventinternational.com.

4. PriceGrabber is a leading provider of online comparison shopping services in the US, with further operations in the UK. It has 215 employees, and for the year ended 31 March 2008 generated revenue of US$109m, accounting for approximately 3% of Group revenue. PriceGrabber enables millions of consumers to search and compare information about products and services before making a purchasing decision. Through continued innovation and consistent focus on providing the best consumer experience, PriceGrabber has become established as one of the most effective destinations for US online shoppers.

 

END

 

 

MSCDGMMGRDFGRZM