Cognos, the world leader in business intelligence (BI) and corporate performance management (CPM) has announced a cash offer to acquire 100% of the outstanding shares of Frango, a Swedish company specialising in consolidation and financial reporting solutions. The acquisition will strengthen Cognos`s product set and extend its leadership in corporate performance management (CPM).
Rob Ashe, president and CEO of Cognos, says: "The acquisition of Frango is another important step in delivering on our commitment to provide the market-leading CPM solution to customers. It will extend our ability to address key priorities in the office of finance and enhance our distribution channels and solution delivery capability in key regions.
"Frango has built a great product and has established an enviable reputation in the performance management market space."
Frango is one of Europe`s leading financial software suppliers and is publicly traded on the Stockholm Exchange. Frango`s reported revenues for the 12-month period ended 30 June 2004 were 262 million krona or $34.3 million, in accordance with Swedish generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
Frango has more than 1 300 customers worldwide and 230 employees located in 16 countries, primarily in Europe and Asia.
Tom L"ofstedt, MD of Frango, says: "Joining forces with Cognos makes perfect sense from a company and business point of view and will greatly strengthen our combined market position.
"Cognos shares our strong company values, our commitment to product quality and our passion for customer success. As a result, our customers will have access to world-class financial performance management solutions and support."
Under the offer, the total value of all shares outstanding in Frango amounts to 390.8 million krona (around $52.2 million).
The prospectus is expected to be made public around 6 September 2004 and the acceptance period is expected to commence on 7 September and end on 27 September.
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Cognos, the world leader in business intelligence and performance management, delivers software that helps companies drive, monitor and understand corporate performance.
Cognos delivers the next level of competitive advantage - corporate performance management (CPM) - achieved through the strategic application of BI on an enterprise scale. Our integrated CPM solution helps customers drive performance through planning, monitor performance through scorecarding and understand performance through business intelligence.
Cognos serves more than 22 000 customers in over 135 countries. Cognos enterprise business intelligence and performance management solutions and services are also available from more than 3 000 worldwide partners and resellers.
Cognos is traded on NASDAQ (COGN) and on The TSX in Toronto (CSN).
Cognos reported revenues of $683 million and a net income of $101 million for the financial year ending 29 February 2004, in accordance with the United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
For more information, visit the Cognos Web site at http://www.cognos.com.
Frango
Frango is a leading European software company founded in 1987 enabling finance and business managers to plan, report, consolidate, monitor and analyse business information - a process generally known as corporate performance management. More than 1 300 corporate customers and organisations worldwide currently rely on Frango for enhancing their understanding of corporate performance and for gaining access to timely and relevant information for improved decision-making.
Headquartered in Stockholm, Frango operates through wholly-owned subsidiaries in 16 countries throughout Europe, the Far East and the US. These businesses are complemented by operations in a further 10 countries through a network of distributors. Frango`s Series B share is listed on the Stockholm Exchange (Stockholmsb"orsen) under the symbol FRAN B.
For more information, visit the Frango Web site at http:// www.frango.se.
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