The parties intend to strengthen their activities in the health sector by creating a jointly owned company to take on the activities of EDB InfoMedica AS and TietoEnator’s Swedish subsidiary TietoEnator Medical AB. The jointly owned company will have initial annual turnover in the order of NOK 130 million and approximately 115 employees.

EDB InfoMedica AS is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of EDB Business Partner ASA, and is a market-leading supplier of patient administration systems in the Norwegian market. TietoEnator Medical AB is a significant player in the Swedish health market. The two companies have co-operated over a number of years on product development and sales and deliveries to the Swedish market, with hospitals in Örebro and Uppsala as important customers.

The new company aims to establish a leading position in the Nordic countries and in due course also to expand internationally. The company will have a joint product strategy, mainly based on EDB InfoMedica's new product platform known as Infomedix.

TietoEnator will acquire a majority share of the new company. The parties have so far signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" and final agreements will be signed in May following the completion of due diligence.

The current Managing Director of EDB InfoMedica, Tor Lahlum, is to be the Managing Director of the combined business, and the head office will be in Oslo. The precise legal structure of the combined activities will be determined at a later date.

The new business will offer products and services to the hospital market in the Nordic countries. Selected applications and components will be made available on a number of different product platforms and will represent the primary emphasis for joint product development. Other product platforms will be administered and developed in accordance with customer requirements.

“The goal of making information in the health sector available for all players will represent an important aspect of all future product development. This will be achieved by using new information technology and standardised platforms,” states Tor Lahlum, the Managing Director of the new company.

“Players in the health sector are experiencing ever-increasing globalisation. Meanwhile digital services represent a significant part of the systems used in the sector. The new company represents an important step in TietoEnator's strategy to become a leading supplier in this area,” comments Juhani Kaisanlahti, who is responsible for the heath sector activities of TietoEnator Public Sector.

Marketing and sales will be carried out locally in each country of operation, and will be supported by joint product and supply resources. The provision of consultancy services and customer-based product development will use local resources in close proximity to customers. Where the company offers ASP services it will make use of the local computer operating services offered by its two owners in their respective geographic markets.

The name of the new company will be decided at a later date.

Any questions or requests for further information arising from this press release may be addressed to:

Lars Gahnstrøm, Senior Vice President, Public Sector, TietoEnator,
Mobile: +46 70 572 60 83
Tor Lahlum, Managing Director of EDB InfoMedica AS,
Mobile: 90 98 64 67
Trygve Reinertsen, Director of Business Development and Strategy, EDB Business Partner ASA,
Mobile: 90 50 40 50