Basman | Explore: IT Outsourcing

United Internet AG, Montabaur, today reached a general agreement with Teleperformance SA, Paris, with regard to the sale of the United Internet Group subsidiary twenty4help AG, Montabaur, to Teleperformance.

twenty4help is the current European leading company in technical support & help desk with a consolidated turnover of more than 100 Millions €. The company operates in many European countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands, UK, Sweden, Spain, Poland and Czech Republic and offers technical support in 22 languages.

With the sale of the company, which no longer belonged to the Group’s core business, United Internet has completed the final step toward becoming a pure Internet Service Provider (ISP). The Group’s Outsourcing segment, of which twenty4help accounted for around 90%, will no longer be separately disclosed in future. The remaining Outsourcing brand InterNetX will be integrated into the Product segment. In future, therefore, United Internet will focus entirely on its Product segment (with the brands GMX, WEB.DE, 1&1, Fasthosts and InterNetX) and Online Marketing segment (with AdLINK, affilinet and Sedo).

In the course of the transaction, the value of twenty4help AG was determined to be around EUR 85 million. The final purchase price is based on the audited and certified consolidated financial statements of twenty4help AG for the fiscal year 2006. Teleperformance will pay the full purchase price in cash.

The sale was approved on January 19, 2007 by the respective committees of the United Internet Group. The transaction is expected to be completed in the next few weeks. Teleperformance’s acquisition is subject to the usual approval procedures of the relevant anti-trust authorities.

Christophe Allard, Chairman of the Teleperformance Board of Directors, said:

“We are really happy about this acquisition. It is perfectly on line with Teleperformance’s development and leadership strategy worldwide. The acquisition of twenty4help fully reflects our willingness to provide our clients with a strong and powerful organization in every country covered by the Group Teleperformance.

For many years, Teleperformance has expressed significant interest about the very large potential of the German market. I strongly believe that there was no better choice than twenty4help to strengthen our position in this market.

Considering the excellent relationship we have built throughout the acquisition process with the team of United Internet which will remain a client and a partner, and with the outstanding management of twenty4help, new growth prospects on the German and European market may be expected, as well as closer partnerships with key multinational players. In addition,for Teleperformance this acquisition together with already existing worldwide activities in technical support & help desk will position ourselves as one of the largest players in this industry sector.”

Ralph Dommermuth, CEO of United Internet AG, said:

“We are happy to have gained our preferred partner, Teleperformance, for our subsidiary twenty4help. During talks held together with Corporate Finance experts of BHF-Bank, Frankfurt, Teleperformance proved to be our clear first choice. As the core business of United Internet AG has developed increasingly toward internet-based products, portals and online advertising over the past few years, it was only logical that we sell our outsourcing business to one of the world’s leading companies in the field and thus also the right decision with regard to twenty4help’s future development.”