Bure invests in education

Bure invests in education - establishes new fast-growing Business Area Education will become a new Business Area in Investment AB Bure. Agreements have been signed to acquire the training companies, Mercuri International ScanAsia and Fama. The objective is that the new Business Area will become a leading Nordic education group with rapid growth and strongly internationalised operations. The Business Area aims to have sales of more than SEK 1,000M as early as 1999 with high profitability from the start. The new Business Area will consist of two Business Sectors: Corporate Training and Schools. In Corporate Training, the emphasis will be on training in leadership, marketing/sales, project management and IT. Business Sector Schools will concentrate on activities in grundskola (nine-year compulsory school) and gymnasium (sixth-form school) and is planned to comprise a number of independent schools in Sweden. In Corporate Training, Bure has signed an agreement to acquire 75 per cent of the shares in Mercuri International ScanAsia which is the operations in Scandinavia and Asia of the training company, Mercuri International. The company, which is the market leader in Scandinavia, develops, sells and carries out competence development projects in leadership as well as sales and marketing training programmes. Sales in 1998 are expected to amount to SEK 220M. The company is included in the Mercuri International Group which is established in 43 countries and has a world-leading position as a strategic partner in competence development relating to leadership, sales and marketing. Bure has also acquired a 50 per cent holding in the Mercuri International Group which is the Mercuri Group's companies for development of trademarks, rights to names and new products/services. In addition, Bure has signed an agreement in principle to acquire approximately 50 per cent of the shares in Mercuri Western Europe and Mercuri Overseas which together have sales of approximately SEK 340M. An agreement has also been signed to acquire all the shares in the IT training company, Fama. The company sells and carries out user training programmes in the IT sector and is expected to report sales in 1998 of approximately SEK 30M. Further acquisitions within Business Area Education are planned to be carried out in the near future. In total, Business Sector Corporate Training is expected to have sales in excess of SEK 600M at the turn of the year. /continued/ Natural further development of Bure "The fact that we are now investing vigorously in education is in line with Bure's long-term strategy to build innovative company structures within the knowledge-based service industry in which continued rapid growth is anticipated over the next few years. The emphasis of our investment will be in the expanding corporate training segment," says Roger Holtback, President of Bure. "There is a need to promote training issues and link them more strongly to the requirements of companies for a comprehensive solution to competence development. By investing in the education sector, Bure is assuming a regeneration role which can be compared to what we have done within Health Care in which in a few years, we have created a Business Area with sales of approximately SEK 2.5 billion." Mercuri International's founder and CEO, Curt Abrahamsson says. "I am happy that Mercuri International is being sold to a Swedish buyer and that Mercuri enters an environment in which fruitful collaboration will take place with other types of training companies. I look forward to being able to continue to contribute to the development of the Mercuri Group. For more than 30 years, Mercuri has built up experience in training at an International level. I trust that Mercuri with Bures support and recources will be able to contribute to additional exports of knowledge" The managements of the acquired companies will form an important part of the Business Area's business development and continued expansion. At the same time, it will be possible to gathered for resources and experience of Bure's Business Areas IT and InfoMedia in which skills will be built-up in, among other things, training technology. Sven-Åke Lewin, who is currently responsible for Corporate Finance and Analysis in Bure, has been appointed Head of the Business Area. "There is an enormous market for training in the Nordic countries and also internationally. We believe in continued strong growth," says Sven-Åke Lewin. "Of the approximately SEK 150 billion which is annually invested in education and training in Sweden alone, corporate training accounts for approximately SEK 30 billion. On average, the training companies within the segments we have prioritised have grown by 15-20 per cent in recent years. Business Area Education is expected to have sales of more than SEK 1 billion with high profitability as early as 1999." Further information about Bure's investment in training will be presented on Bure's capital market day in Gothenburg on 11 November. Gothenburg, 5 November 1998 Investment AB Bure (publ) For further information please contact: Sven-Åke Lewin, Head of Business Area Training Tel +46 31-335 76 78 Knut Leman, Director of Corporate Communications Tel +46 31-335 76 75 Anders Haldin, President of Mercuri International Tel +46 31-68 72 00 Pontus Söderström, President of Fama Tel +46 8-30 19 18 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1998/11/05/19981105BIT00490/bit0001.pdf http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1998/11/05/19981105BIT00490/bit0002.doc