ESI Group Announces Its Intent To Acquire Calcom

ESI Group strengthens its strategic position in the casting and the industrial metallurgy.

Paris, January 23, 2003 : ESI Group (Euroclear 6584, Bloomberg ESI FP, Reuters ESIG.LN), a world leading solution provider in virtual prototyping and manufacturing, announces its intention to acquire Calcom. Calcom is a Swiss company specialising in digital simulation for casting and metallurgical industry applications. The company is the editor and European distributor of the calcosoft software product, and also markets the ProCAST software product in Europe.

The acquisition of Calcom is a strategic follow-up to the recent acquisition of ProCAST teams and software in November 2002. ESI Group views this acquisition as an additional step in its consolidation of a leading position in Virtual Manufacturing (VM) as a provider of simulation products for most material and metallurgical processes. Calcom's privileged collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) ensures that the most recent developments in metallurgy and computer science are transferred to its casting and metal forming applications. Agreements between EPFL and Calcom have been strengthened in order to ensure a long-term partnership. With this acquisition, ESI Group strengthens the "metallurgical" dimension of its business which will eventually include ProCAST and PAM-CAST for casting simulation, calcosoft for continuous casting and ESI Group SYSWELD product for welding and heat treatment.

The complementary nature and the convergence of these various products will enable this specific division to develop and support new high value added 2G solutions, such as the simulation and optimisation of assembly processes for mechanic-welded complex structures. ESI Group metallurgical business unit will include close to 50 world experts and engineers and will entail significant economies of scale at the level of distribution, technical support and management. This should result in greater efficiency for fiscal year 2003.

Financial terms of the acquisition

The ProCAST acquisition was completed in late December 2002 and involved the intellectual property, assets and staff required to operate the software.

The ProCAST and Calcom acquisitions amount to approximately 4 million euros, paid entirely in cash. The two acquired companies generated sales of around 4.6 million euros in 2002. In accordance with agreements signed on December 24, 2002, ESI Group will consolidate Calcom's sales in the first quarter of 2003.

Alain de Rouvray, ESI Group's CEO, concluded: "Pursuing our selective acquisition strategy, we are delighted to welcome Calcom into our group. Current and future products resulting from the combination of Calcom and ESI Group, following the integration of ProCAST, will give ESI Group critical mass in casting manufacturing processes, and will complement our existing leadership in stamping and die design. This will allow us to develop a single, global solution for complex assembled products. Calcom's sales force and highly-skilled technical staff will strengthen ESI Group's business as a distributor and provider of high value added services."

About ESI Group 

ESI Group is a pioneer and world leading provider of digital simulation software for prototyping and manufacturing processes that take into account the physics of materials. ESI Group has developed an entire suite of coherent, industry oriented applications to realistically simulate a product's behavior during testing, to fine tune the manufacturing processes in synergy with the desired product performance, and to evaluate the environment's impact on product usage. 

ESI Group's product portfolio, which has been industrially validated and combined in multi-trade value chains, represents a unique collaborative, virtual engineering solution, known as the Virtual Try-Out Space (VTOS), enabling a continuous improvement on the virtual prototype. By drastically reducing costs and development lead times, VTOS solutions offer major competitive advantages by progressively eliminating the need for physical prototypes. 

With revenues close to euros 43 million in fiscal year 2001, ESI Group (Nouveau March�: Euronext Paris - Software - Euroclear 6584 - Bloomberg ESI FP - Reuters ESIG.LN) employs over 300 high-level specialists worldwide. The company and its global network of agents provide sales and technical support to customers in more than 30 countries. 

www.esi-group.com

About Calcom 

Calcom was founded in Lausanne in 1991. The company markets UES Software's ProCAST casting simulation product, along with its own calcosoft continuous casting product. Calcom has many prestigious industrial partners, including ABB, Alcan-Alusuisse, Assan, Corus, Doncasters, Elkem, General Motors, Howmet, Hydro-Aluminium, Hydro-Germany-VAW, Lamitref-MKM, PCC, Pechiney, Rolls-Royce, Snecma and Umicore. Calcom is also heavily involved in research projects, with academic partners such as EPFL, INPL, INPG, Sintef, TU Delft, and Uni Trondheim. Calcom has been awarded ISO9001 certification by SGS International Certification Services AG. In 2002, Calcom generated sales of CHF3.4m, mainly in Europe. Around three quarters of Calcom's revenue comes from distributing ProCAST and calcosoft software; the other quarter comes from services. Calcom has around 15 employees, and covers the European market using a network of agents and distributors.

www.calcom.ch

 

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