INFOBANK ACQUIRES OUTSTANDING INTEREST IN EAI SOFTWARE MAKER ELLIOT PEARCE LIMITED UK: Weighs Option To Buy NY-Based E-Commerce Consultancy EPL US - Company Business and Marketing

EDP Weekly's IT Monitor, Nov 15, 1999

Infobank International Holdings PLC is acquiring the outstanding 75 percent interest it does not own in Elliott Pearce Limited (EPL UK), a London-based maker of business to business e-commerce Enterprise Application Integration ("EAI") software, from owner Kevin Doyle. Infobank, a leading European corporate software reseller, also obtained an option to acquire Doyle's New York-based e-commerce consultancy.

Infobank acquired its original 25 percent interest in EPL UK in March. At that time it was granted an option to acquire the remaining shares as well as an option to acquire Doyle's New York-based EPL Software Corp. (EPL US), a provider of EAI solutions for information systems development, integration and e-Commerce.

According to Graham Sadd, CEO of Infobank, "A number of our major channel partners have encouraged us to commence operations in the US as many US-based multinationals would benefit from the single system multinational capabilities of our leading InTrade e-procurement suite. The option to acquire EPL US gives us the opportunity to make a low risk entry into the United States with access to a pool of highly qualified e-procurement technical staff, ideally placed to support US channel partners."