BTS – APG/RLC Merger Update

– The merger is already generating cross-selling deals
Stockholm, Sweden– BTS Group AB (publ), the world’s leading business simulation train-ing and consulting company, announced today that the newly acquired companies The Ad-vantage Performance Group (APG) and The Real Learning Company (RLC) have after two months generated two cross-selling deals in excess of 2 MSEK. In addition, the integration work of the two formerly privately held, and highly respected US based training and consult-ing organizations, progresses according to plan.

Henrik Ekelund, President and CEO, BTS Group AB gives his comments on the progress of incorporating these businesses into the BTS Group.

How would you describe the atmosphere in the respective organizations?
“It is an exciting time, bringing our forces together and finding joint opportunities with The Real Learning Company and The Advantage Performance Group. The internal climate among our professionals is optimistic and our respective corporate cultures have proven to be in line. We share objectives with the integration work and the many opportunities it pre-sents. It is exciting for everyone involved to see how the combined businesses will be able to offer the market a substantially broader portfolio of solutions.”
What was the most important addition to the BTS offering that came out of the acqui-sition?
“RLC brings a strong portfolio in sales and leadership development solutions as well as highly creative customer and product development resources in these areas.
APG has brought us not only 35 fulltime sales and product specialist equivalents and more than 100 skilled training facilitators, but has also added some 200 highly interesting and valuable customers.”
Are there already any early positive signs of cross selling opportunities between the companies?
“Yes there are definitely early signs of the opportunity that this merger gives BTS. Only two months after signing the acquisition we have already cleared the first two cross selling deals worth in excess of 2 MSEK. A BTS customer, a leading electronics company, has bought solutions from Real Learning for the implementation of a new strategy. Another BTS client, who sells communication equipment and uses BTS to develop its world wide sales force, has bought some of Real Learning solutions, and will continue to buy approximately 200 000 USD worth over the next 12 months.
What measures has BTS taken to secure new business opportunities that arise as a consequence of the acquisition?
“We have spent a great deal of time training our account managers to identify new business opportunities based on needs within the BTS customer base. We have also spent a great deal of time training them on the whole solution portfolio and we are discussing with many of our clients how we can help them with more of their requirements. We are working closely with APG and RLC to provide training and support on the BTS solutions as well.”
To conclude, looking in the mirror, was it a good decision to acquire these two com-panies?
“It is of course early to draw any definitive conclusions but we have already confirmed sev-eral of the vital prerequisites we required at the time of the acquisition. The companies com-plement each other very well, and the overlap in our respective customer bases is only about 10 per cent, or 20 companies out of the total of 200 leading US organizations that RLC and APG bring to the table. Examples of important APG and RLC customers include: Toyota, UPS, Bristol-Myers Squibb, American Express, Wells Fargo, Ingersoll-Rand, Daim-ler-Chrysler, Genentech, Catholic Health and Insight.
Another key conclusion is that we work very well together; there is a strong cultural fit and we share a lot of values – this is critical for the co-operation, which in turn is critical for achieving cross-selling.”