Information Highway/Connecta Takes Over German Consultancy

Swedish group Information
Highway/Connecta announced
Tuesday that it will acquire
berens/partner, one of the largest
Internet consultancies in Germany.

Information Highway/Connecta will pay for the purchase by issuing
16.3 million new shares in a deal that values berens/partner at
225 million euros ($218 million).

Information Highway/Connecta is itself still in the process
of merging its two constituent parts. Its stated ambition is
to become Europe’s leading business-to-business Internet
consulting player.

Trading in Information Highway and Connecta shares was suspended
on the Stockholm Stock Exchange Monday, pending Tuesday’s announcement.

Founded in 1992 and now employing 130 people in Dusseldorf, Hannover
and Stuttgart, berens/partner has a list of blue-chip clients
including Deutsche Bank, Mannesmann, Deutsche Renault, and
DM Online. It specializes in interactive business solutions
and has a reputation for building online platforms for
financial markets.

Goran Wagstrom, Information Highway’s president, said that
the deal is bringing a profitable company to the group, with
business in what he regarded as the most exciting market in
Europe.

“This gives Information Highway/Connecta the perfect platform
for continued expansion in Germany and other German-speaking
countries,” said Wagstrom.

Johan Wieslander, deputy chief executive officer of Connecta,
said the new acquisition would consolidate the group’s increasingly
strong position in the B2B sector in Europe.

Jorg Berens, the founder and chief executive officer of
berens/partner said the merger would enable his company to
function as an internationalized corporation on pan-European
projects.

“This is a strategic merger that gives us the opportunity to
satisfy progressively higher and more internationalized client
demands within e-commerce,” said Berens, who is the main owner
of berens/partner.

With the addition of berens/partner, Information Highway/Connecta
will have 1,350 employees in six countries. It says it will
now intensify its efforts to obtain a double listing on the
Stockholm Stock Exchange.