GFI Energy Ventures to acquire SPL WorldGroup and merge SPL, Synergen, and Mobility
Announcement posted by SPL 21 Oct 2004
SPL today announced a tender offer from GFI Energy Ventures for all of its outstanding shares. Upon completion of the acquisition, GFI will incorporate another of its investments, Synergen, Inc., into SPL. The series of transactions should conclude before the end of the year, pending regulatory and other approvals. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Earlier this year, when we announced the acquisition of CESs outage and distribution management solutions, we made public our intention to become a focused provider of a broad suite of utility-specific applications, said SPL CEO Harry Debes. We believe we have found the ideal partner in GFI Energy Ventures to help make that vision a reality. GFI brings substantial capital resources, industry knowledge and relationships, and directly relevant experience.
GFI is also the majority shareholder of Synergen, the award-winning provider of asset management systems (the Synergen Series) and mobile workforce management solutions (Mobility) to the utility and other asset-intensive industries. GFI will be merging Synergen into SPL concurrent with the closing of the tender offer. Synergens asset and mobile workforce management offerings will be a valuable, highly complementary addition to SPLs existing offerings. Integrating these applications with SPLs customer care and billing, outage, and distribution management systems will make the new SPL the one company that can provide the integrated end-to-end solution utilities have long sought. Debes said. This new SPL utility application solution setto be enhanced with additional, future acquisitions and internal developmentwill deliver a flexible set of integrated applications that will stand head and shoulders above the fragmented vendor offerings in todays utility marketplace. The benefit for our customers will be improved service and lower cost.
Richard MacDonald, who founded Synergen in 1986 and will continue to lead the Synergen Series product within SPL, expressed strong satisfaction with the agreement. I have never been more proud of Synergen and its employees than I am today, he said. For almost two decades, weve delivered on our commitment to provide our customers with the highest quality productsproducts that help capital-intensive companies meet and exceed their goals. Our exceptional growth, especially in the past few years, results from that commitment. Now, we are seeing that commitment carried forward into an expanded future.
The combined company, which will go to market under the SPL brand, will offer each major application both as a stand-alone product and as a product pre-integrated with one or more additional offerings.
In describing the effect of the SPL announcement on the marketplace, Debes commented, Todays utilities face major problems in attempts to keep pace with changes in customer demands, security, asset optimization, regulatory environment, and market requirements. There is simply no way utilities can respond to these changes with a set of applications that were not designed to work together. SPLs expanded menu of pre-integrated offerings, he said, will solve a major problem utilities face.
"In the current industry environment, operational efficiency and regulatory compliance are top priorities for utilities. In order to drive costs out of the business, utilities need to integrate and optimize complex business processes such as revenue, customer, commodity and asset management," said Rick Nicholson, vice president and director at META Group, a leading provider of IT research, advisory services and strategic consulting. "Vendors offering a suite of applications including customer information systems, outage management systems, mobile workforce management systems and work and asset management systems will be in a position to meet the needs of market."
Kristian Steenstrup at Gartner pointed out, "The buyers of software realise that there is a need for the fusion of business processes, that is, a continuous flow across activities in a company. With the integration of support and fulfillment functions in utilities, companies will seek solutions that are integrated across processes, but with each step as functionally complete as those provided by best-of-breed vendors."
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Contacts:
Shuna Boyd
Boyd PR
+612 9418 8100
Terri Darwent
SPL
+612 8258 2815
terri_darwent@splwg.com
About SPL
SPL (www.splwg.com) delivers the proven software applications that help utilities around the world achieve competitive advantage and excellence in business performance. SPL solutions in customer care and billing, outage management, and distribution management are specifically designed for energy, water, and service companies, providing a platform from which they serve residential, commercial, and industrial customers in regulated and competitive markets, across multiple products and jurisdictions. Working with systems-integration and technology partners around the world, SPL has an unparalleled record of implementation success. Financially strong, and with customers on six continents, SPL focuses on clients return on investment and fosters long-term relationships based on confidence and trust. Visit SPL at www.splwg.com or call +61-2-8258-8200 (Sydney).
About Synergen
Synergen, Inc. (www.synergen.com) develops enterprise operational software and mobile workforce management solutions designed to optimize capital and human resources for asset-intensive industries. The award-winning Synergen Series, is a Web-architected software solution that address all aspects of collaborative work management; asset reliability and maintenance; resource optimization and scheduling; safety and regulatory compliance; inventory control, purchasing, and contract management; operational accounting; reporting and analytics; capital project tracking; and document control. Synergens Mobility workforce management solution offers state-of-the-market mobile workforce dispatch and scheduling, automatic vehicle location (AVL) and customer information systems. Established in 1986, Synergen has major installations in the utilities, public sector, manufacturing, transportation and facilities markets. Supported by the latest in Internet technology, users need only a standard Web browser to rapidly install, deploy and access Synergen solutions across the enterprise.
About GFI
GFI Energy Ventures LCC (www.gfienergy.com) is a significant equity investor in established, industry-leading companies in the energy industry. Since 1995, GFI has originated more than forty investments in successful companies that provide systems, software, equipment and services primarily to the utility industry and related sectors. GFI oversees a portfolio of companies with a market value in excess of $2 billion and is the co-general partner with Oaktree Capital Management, LLC of the $454 million OCM/GFI Power Opportunities Fund, L.P.
2004 SPL WorldGroup, Inc. All Rights Reserved. SPL is a trademark owned by SPL WorldGroup B.V. or its subsidiaries. SPL is registered as a trademark in the United States and in certain other jurisdictions. The Synergen Series is a trademark and Synergen is a registered trademark of Synergen, Inc. All other trademarks and brand, product and company names herein are used for identification purposes only and are the property of their respective owners.
"Earlier this year, when we announced the acquisition of CESs outage and distribution management solutions, we made public our intention to become a focused provider of a broad suite of utility-specific applications, said SPL CEO Harry Debes. We believe we have found the ideal partner in GFI Energy Ventures to help make that vision a reality. GFI brings substantial capital resources, industry knowledge and relationships, and directly relevant experience.
GFI is also the majority shareholder of Synergen, the award-winning provider of asset management systems (the Synergen Series) and mobile workforce management solutions (Mobility) to the utility and other asset-intensive industries. GFI will be merging Synergen into SPL concurrent with the closing of the tender offer. Synergens asset and mobile workforce management offerings will be a valuable, highly complementary addition to SPLs existing offerings. Integrating these applications with SPLs customer care and billing, outage, and distribution management systems will make the new SPL the one company that can provide the integrated end-to-end solution utilities have long sought. Debes said. This new SPL utility application solution setto be enhanced with additional, future acquisitions and internal developmentwill deliver a flexible set of integrated applications that will stand head and shoulders above the fragmented vendor offerings in todays utility marketplace. The benefit for our customers will be improved service and lower cost.
Richard MacDonald, who founded Synergen in 1986 and will continue to lead the Synergen Series product within SPL, expressed strong satisfaction with the agreement. I have never been more proud of Synergen and its employees than I am today, he said. For almost two decades, weve delivered on our commitment to provide our customers with the highest quality productsproducts that help capital-intensive companies meet and exceed their goals. Our exceptional growth, especially in the past few years, results from that commitment. Now, we are seeing that commitment carried forward into an expanded future.
The combined company, which will go to market under the SPL brand, will offer each major application both as a stand-alone product and as a product pre-integrated with one or more additional offerings.
In describing the effect of the SPL announcement on the marketplace, Debes commented, Todays utilities face major problems in attempts to keep pace with changes in customer demands, security, asset optimization, regulatory environment, and market requirements. There is simply no way utilities can respond to these changes with a set of applications that were not designed to work together. SPLs expanded menu of pre-integrated offerings, he said, will solve a major problem utilities face.
"In the current industry environment, operational efficiency and regulatory compliance are top priorities for utilities. In order to drive costs out of the business, utilities need to integrate and optimize complex business processes such as revenue, customer, commodity and asset management," said Rick Nicholson, vice president and director at META Group, a leading provider of IT research, advisory services and strategic consulting. "Vendors offering a suite of applications including customer information systems, outage management systems, mobile workforce management systems and work and asset management systems will be in a position to meet the needs of market."
Kristian Steenstrup at Gartner pointed out, "The buyers of software realise that there is a need for the fusion of business processes, that is, a continuous flow across activities in a company. With the integration of support and fulfillment functions in utilities, companies will seek solutions that are integrated across processes, but with each step as functionally complete as those provided by best-of-breed vendors."
###
Contacts:
Shuna Boyd
Boyd PR
+612 9418 8100
Terri Darwent
SPL
+612 8258 2815
terri_darwent@splwg.com
About SPL
SPL (www.splwg.com) delivers the proven software applications that help utilities around the world achieve competitive advantage and excellence in business performance. SPL solutions in customer care and billing, outage management, and distribution management are specifically designed for energy, water, and service companies, providing a platform from which they serve residential, commercial, and industrial customers in regulated and competitive markets, across multiple products and jurisdictions. Working with systems-integration and technology partners around the world, SPL has an unparalleled record of implementation success. Financially strong, and with customers on six continents, SPL focuses on clients return on investment and fosters long-term relationships based on confidence and trust. Visit SPL at www.splwg.com or call +61-2-8258-8200 (Sydney).
About Synergen
Synergen, Inc. (www.synergen.com) develops enterprise operational software and mobile workforce management solutions designed to optimize capital and human resources for asset-intensive industries. The award-winning Synergen Series, is a Web-architected software solution that address all aspects of collaborative work management; asset reliability and maintenance; resource optimization and scheduling; safety and regulatory compliance; inventory control, purchasing, and contract management; operational accounting; reporting and analytics; capital project tracking; and document control. Synergens Mobility workforce management solution offers state-of-the-market mobile workforce dispatch and scheduling, automatic vehicle location (AVL) and customer information systems. Established in 1986, Synergen has major installations in the utilities, public sector, manufacturing, transportation and facilities markets. Supported by the latest in Internet technology, users need only a standard Web browser to rapidly install, deploy and access Synergen solutions across the enterprise.
About GFI
GFI Energy Ventures LCC (www.gfienergy.com) is a significant equity investor in established, industry-leading companies in the energy industry. Since 1995, GFI has originated more than forty investments in successful companies that provide systems, software, equipment and services primarily to the utility industry and related sectors. GFI oversees a portfolio of companies with a market value in excess of $2 billion and is the co-general partner with Oaktree Capital Management, LLC of the $454 million OCM/GFI Power Opportunities Fund, L.P.
2004 SPL WorldGroup, Inc. All Rights Reserved. SPL is a trademark owned by SPL WorldGroup B.V. or its subsidiaries. SPL is registered as a trademark in the United States and in certain other jurisdictions. The Synergen Series is a trademark and Synergen is a registered trademark of Synergen, Inc. All other trademarks and brand, product and company names herein are used for identification purposes only and are the property of their respective owners.