Francisco Partners, Majority Shareholder of Global eXchange Services, to Acquire IBM's EDI and Business Exchange Services Business

Business Wire, Oct 21, 2004

MENLO PARK, Calif. -- Francisco Partners Intends to Merge Business with Global eXchange Services within Six Months

Francisco Partners, one of the world's largest technology-focused private equity firms, and a majority shareholder of Global eXchange Services (GXS), has signed a definitive agreement to acquire G International, a business established to own and operate IBM's Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Business Exchange Services (BES) business.

Following the acquisition, Gary Greenfield, president and CEO of GXS and an Operating Partner with Francisco Partners, will serve as CEO of G International. G International will be a fully integrated partner in the Francisco Partners family of companies. Francisco Partners intends to merge G International and GXS within the next six months subject to certain conditions including definitive documentation.

IBM's EDI Services and Business Exchange Services are global offerings within the IBM services portfolio.

"Adding the talented employees, superior services and stellar client roster of IBM's EDI and Business Exchange Services to the Francisco Partners family of companies, including GXS, is a strategic step towards becoming one of the leading integration service providers serving the world's largest business communities," stated David Stanton, chairman of Global eXchange Services and managing partner of Francisco Partners.

The anticipated merger of G International and GXS, following Francisco Partners' acquisition, is expected to enhance GXS's expertise and capabilities in industries such as automotive, consumer products, financial services, high-tech and retail, and deepen direct operations in growth regions such as Latin America, Japan and Europe.

"Today, our large and small business customers are asking us to help them achieve broader participation with their business partners on a global scale," said Gary Greenfield, president and CEO of GXS. "As a result of the anticipated merger, GXS will not only broaden its global presence in key geographies, but also will immediately become one of the leading B2B integration service providers."

The anticipated merger also underscores GXS's ability to expand on the vision of its recently announced next-generation integration services platform - GXS Trading Grid(SM). Trading Grid is a feature-rich integration services infrastructure that helps automate global trading communities by shielding complexity from rapidly changing standards, eliminating manual and duplicative efforts, and enabling a new level of process integration and business intelligence.

About Francisco Partners

With $2.5 billion of committed capital, Francisco Partners is one of the world's largest technology-focused private equity firms. The firm was founded to pursue structured investments in technology companies undergoing strategic, technological and operational inflection points. Francisco Partners targets majority and minority investments in private companies, public companies and divisions of public companies. For additional information, visit www.franciscopartners.com.

About Global eXchange Services

Global eXchange Services (GXS) is a leading worldwide provider of B2B e-commerce solutions that simplify and enhance business process integration and collaboration. Organizations worldwide, including over half of the Fortune 500, leverage the Global eXchange Services Trading Grid(SM) to achieve the perfect balance of supply and demand. Active in the global standards arena, GXS solutions enable customers both large and small, to connect with global partners, synchronize product information, optimize inventory levels and demand forecasts, and accelerate the execution of supply chains.

Headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., GXS provides sales and support to businesses and their partners worldwide. For more information visit our Web site at www.gxs.com.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This document includes certain "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are identified, in some cases, by terminology such as "will", "intends", "anticipated" or similar expressions . These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations due to changes in global political, economic, business, competitive, market and regulatory factors. These factors include technological developments, customer demand, ability to obtain financing and ability to obtain any required consents from third parties.