For local Information Integration specialists, Alicornio Africa (formerly Sagent Southern Africa), the acquisition of Group 1's outstanding shares by Pitney Bowes is exceptionally good news. The definitive agreement totalling approximately $321 million, has MD Alicornio Africa, Susan Andre, anticipating exponential growth for the company.
Susan Andre, respected industry leader and local representative of Group 1's products, Doc 1 and Sagent Solution, comments by saying, "There are potentially massive spin-off's for Alicornio resulting from the acquisition and Pitney Bowes' global growth strategies. More so, the move confirms our strength in the local market as suppliers of globally recognised technology, and related services."
Michael J. Critelli, Chairman and CEO of Pitney Bowes says, "The acquisition enhances our ability to execute global growth strategies and deliver added value to customers worldwide. Essentially it supports the areas previously identified for sustained growth in customer and shareholder value – mailstream expansion, document management, data integration, global penetration and cross-selling." Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI), a $4.6 billion company, is recognised as the world's leading provider of integrated mail and document management systems, services and solutions. The company assists all sizes and manner of businesses with the engineering of communication flow in order to reduce costs and increase the impact of communications. Group 1 Software will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Pitney Bowes within its Global Enterprise Solutions segment. The Nasdaq listed company will continue to trade under its own name with operations and personnel also remaining in tact. Critelli adds further, "It is Group 1's product suites which include a broad range of address management, data quality, document management, document generation and delivery and marketing campaign management software applications that complement Pitney Bowes' existing mailing software, business and products." Two products key to the Group 1 complement, include Doc 1 for CMM (customer communications management) and Sagent Solution for business intelligence and high level information integration solutions.
Alicornio who have exclusive distribution rights to the Sagent Solution, have recently introduced Doc 1 into their portfolio, and will continue to service clients and the market with integrity and excellence. Alicornio's position in the local market is strengthened not only through their distribution rights over these leading technologies, but through their association with the multi-billion Dollar Pitney Bowes, who comes with a reputation of having trusted brands, a solid heritage spanning some 85 years and their quality products and services to boot. And while this new advancement offers a fresh and exciting opportunity to see the company grow, for now it is still, "Business as usual," as Alicornio MD Susan Andre casually puts it.
About Alicornio Africa
For the past four years, Alicornio Africa has serviced an impressive array of blue chip and other companies. In addition, they have continuously added to the knowledge pool of their industry by hosting leading international experts in the field in training and discussion forums. They have established themselves as leaders in the education of the expert and layman alike in the intricacies of the highly complex arena of business intelligence, information integration management, data warehousing, architecture, design and implementation. Alicornio Africa services are both product and non-product specific.