EDB Business Partner's wholly owned subsidiary EDB Fellesdata has today entered into an agreement to acquire Accept Data Norge as. The purchase price is NOK 65 million, and the acquired company will become a subsidiary of EDB Fellesdata.

Accept Data Norge operates as a software house, developing applications for the equity and mutual funds markets in Norway. The company was established in 1987, and currently has ca. 50 employees. Accept Data Norge has a large customer base in Norway, with a market share of 50-70% in its core areas of dealing and investment management systems. The company develops and markets complete solutions for Norwegian investment management operations, and its system ADNFond is the most widely used application in its market segment. The company's systems for front and back office dealing operations cover the entire working process of a dealing operation from first receipt of an order through to settlement and delivery. Accept Data Norge reported turnover of NOK 48 million for 2000, with a pre-tax profit of NOK 4.8 million. The company's equity was NOK 14.2 million at 31 December 2000, with no interest-bearing liabilities.

"The acquisition of Accept Data Norge is a further step in EDB Business Partner's strategy to expand its product range to include systems for equities and mutual funds in order to meet the requirements of financial groups. Savings and investment products represent a growth area in the banking and finance sector, and there is an increasing trend for equities and mutual funds to be purchased directly through a payment services function. It is strategically important for EDB Business Partner to offer up-to-date solutions in this area, and the acquisition gives us valuable expertise as well as supplementing our product portfolio with new systems that can be integrated with our other banking systems. The expertise and applications that Accept Data Norge offers will also be important in our international expansion" comments Ole Trasti, Executive Vice President, Bank & Finance.

Contact name:
Ole Trasti, Executive Vice President, Bank & Finance, EDB Business Partner,
Tel. +47 22 52 82 60, +47 90 08 91 00