Aimia Acquires Excellence in Motivation
Acquisition expands Aimia’s full suite product portfolio and geographic
presence in the U.S. market
MONTREAL and DAYTON, OH, Aug. 28, 2012 /CNW/ – Aimia (TSX: AIM), a
global leader in loyalty management headquartered in Montreal, Canada,
today announced that it has entered into an agreement to purchase
Excellence In Motivation Inc. (EIM), a privately-owned U.S.-based
full-service performance improvement and business loyalty solutions
provider, for approximately US $28 million. The transaction is subject
to customary closing conditions and is expected to close by the end of
September 2012. The acquisition will be financed with cash on hand.
The acquisition is part of Aimia’s global growth strategy, which
includes investing in opportunities that complement its business,
accelerating its presence in the U.S. market. The transaction will
strengthen Aimia’s presence in key vertical markets, including
automotive, healthcare, pharmaceutical, high tech and
telecommunications. While building Aimia’s geographic footprint coast
to coast, the acquisition of EIM will increase the breadth and depth of
Aimia’s business loyalty product and client portfolio.
“EIM is a great addition to the Aimia family as we continue to look for
opportunities to increase our presence in the U.S. market,” said Rupert
Duchesne, Group Chief Executive of Aimia. “The acquisition complements
our Business Loyalty division in the U.S. and offers opportunities for
organizational growth and increased market share.”
Founded in 1993, EIM is a leading performance improvement company aimed
at positively changing behaviors of employees, channel partners and
customers. Originally conceived as a traditional full service
performance company, EIM was an early innovator of web-based solutions
for clients. Today, EIM utilizes cutting-edge technology solutions to
help clients maximize productivity, reduce costs and increase employee
engagement. EIM also specializes in sales and channel partner programs
that have grown revenues and increased market share for its clients.
EIM has over 200 employees based in offices in Dayton, OH and Los
Angeles, CA with sales presence across the U.S.
“By joining the Aimia family, our clients will benefit from an expanded
full suite of loyalty solution capabilities and increased
sector-specific loyalty marketing expertise,” said EIM President and
CEO, Bob Miller. “We can also leverage Aimia’s global footprint and
capabilities to help our clients execute on a global scale. Together,
Aimia and EIM will enable our corporate clients to engage employees,
energize channels, and ultimately build loyalty among customers.”
The acquisition further advances Aimia’s position as a leading full
suite loyalty management company delivering world-class channel,
employee and customer solutions across all vertical industries,
geographies and channels for consumer and business-to-business brands.
In connection with this transaction, CIBC acted as a financial advisor
to Aimia and Bentley Associates acted as a financial advisor to EIM.
About Aimia
Aimia Inc. (“Aimia”) is a global leader in loyalty management. Aimia’s
unique capabilities include proven expertise in delivering proprietary
loyalty services, launching and managing coalition loyalty programs,
creating value through loyalty analytics and driving innovation in the
emerging digital and mobile spaces. Aimia owns and operates Aeroplan,
Canada’s premier coalition loyalty program and Nectar, the United
Kingdom’s largest coalition loyalty program. In addition, Aimia has
majority equity positions in Air Miles Middle East and Nectar Italia as
well as a minority position in Club Premier, Mexico’s leading coalition
loyalty program and Cardlytics, a U.S.-based private company operating
in merchant-funded transaction-driven marketing for electronic banking.
Aimia is a Canadian public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange
(TSX: AIM) and has over 3,400 employees in more than 20 countries
around the world. For more information about Aimia, please visit www.aimia.com. Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/aimiainc.
Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements are identified by the use of terms and
phrases such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “could”, “estimate”, “expect”,
“intend”, “may”, “plan”, “predict”, “project”, “will”, “would”, and
similar terms and phrases, including references to assumptions. Such
statements may involve but are not limited to comments with respect to
Aimia’s and EIM’s strategies, expectations, planned operations, future
actions, anticipated financial performance and business prospects.
Forward-looking statements, by their nature, are based on assumptions
and are subject to important risks and uncertainties. Any forecasts or
forward-looking predictions or statements cannot be relied upon due to,
amongst other things, changing external events and general
uncertainties of the business and its corporate structure. Results
indicated in forward-looking statements may differ materially from
actual results for a number of reasons, including without limitation,
dependency on top accumulation partners and clients, conflicts of
interest, greater than expected redemptions for rewards, regulatory
matters, retail market/economic conditions, industry competition, Air
Canada liquidity issues, Air Canada or travel industry disruptions,
airline industry changes and increased airline costs, supply and
capacity costs, unfunded future redemption costs, failure to safeguard
databases and consumer privacy, changes to coalition loyalty programs,
seasonal nature of the business, other factors and prior performance,
foreign operations, legal proceedings, reliance on key personnel,
labour relations, pension liability, technological disruptions and
inability to use third party software, failure to protect intellectual
property rights, interest rate and currency fluctuations, leverage and
restrictive covenants in current and future indebtedness, uncertainty
of dividend payments, managing growth, credit ratings, as well as the
other factors identified in this news release and throughout Aimia’s
public disclosure record on file with the Canadian securities
regulatory authorities.. Material factors and assumptions that were
applied in drawing a conclusion or making a projection or forecast are
also set out throughout this document. We believe that the expectations
represented by our forward-looking statements are reasonable, yet there
can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.
The purpose of the forward-looking statements is to provide the reader
with a description of management’s expectations regarding the matters
described in this news release and may not be appropriate for other
purposes. The forward-looking statements contained herein represent
Aimia’s expectations as of August 28, 2012, and are subject to change
after such date. However, Aimia disclaims any intention or obligation
to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result
of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required
under applicable securities regulations.
SOURCE: AIMIA
Contact:
Media Contacts
Aimia:
JoAnne Hayes
416-352-3706
joanne.hayes@aimia.com
EIM
Diane O’Connell
937-824-8219
doconnell@eim-inc.com
Investor Contact:
Aimia:
Trish Moran
416-352-3728
trish.moran@aimia.com