Telecom Completes Purchase

Thu, 1 July 2004

Telecom today completed the purchase of IT-solutions provider Gen-i from Cullen Investments for $62.3 million.

Telecom Chief Information Officer Mark Ratcliffe said Telecom had completed its due diligence assessment on Gen-i and is pleased with the results.

“Gen-i is a smart acquisition for Telecom because of its complementary skills, expertise and culture,” Mr Ratcliffe said.

“Gen-i has been extremely successful in the corporate and medium enterprise markets and has a high level of capability in systems integration, procurement, IT training, central support and field services.

“The focus is now on building a new organisation that represents the best of the best components of both Telecom Advanced Solutions (TAS) and Gen-i for our customers and our people.”

“In the short-term, our aim is to ensure that customers keep receiving high levels of service and we are certain that in the very near future the outcomes of the acquisition will further enhance both the levels of service and the breadth of products and services we can provide for them.”

Telecom had now established a joint Gen-i and TAS led team to manage the merger process, Mr Ratcliffe said.

“In the future Telecom will focus on the Gen-i brand for ICT and merge the business unit under Gen-i's name,” Mr Ratcliffe added.

Before acquisition, Gen-i had approximately 716 staff across nine locations in both New Zealand and Australia and provided total technology solutions from consultation, design and development through to implementation, support and training to large corporate and public sector clients. Gen-i earned revenues of $155 million and EBITDA of $7 million for the year ended April 2004 and has forecast revenues of around $170 million and EBITDA of approximately $11 million for the year ended April 2005.

Telecom Advanced Solutions is Telecom’s dedicated New Zealand information and communication technologies business.

Its capability includes mobile and commerce applications, IP and Internet security, ICT infrastructure, hosting and storage solutions, contact centre solutions, and wireless, data and voice services.

ENDS

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