Regulatory Authorities Approve Merger of arvato and Gothia

GÜTERSLOH, Germany and OSLO, June 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

• arvato merges its existing financial services business with that of the international Gothia Financial Group
• Merger results in leading provider of integrated financial services in Europe
• Focus on further expansion of business information and financial services activities

The path to the merger of arvato infoscore with the Gothia Financial Group is clear: today, the competent regulatory authorities gave the go-ahead for the merger of the two companies. The merger of Gothia with the arvato infoscore subsidiary as the core unit turns arvato into Europe's No. 3 in the rapidly growing financial services market. The new entity that will be headed by arvato board member Michael Weinreich as CEO employs more than 3,600 people in 14 European countries and is expected to generate revenues of EUR 500 million^[1] this year.

Achim Berg, CEO of arvato AG and a member of the Bertelsmann Executive Board, comments on the speedy regulatory approval: "The market for financial services has an attractive, sustainable dynamic and allows us high growth rates. In addition, the merger fits perfectly with arvato and Bertelsmann's strategy and investment criteria."

Michael Weinreich adds: "I am delighted to welcome the employees of Gothia into the arvato family. We are now free to create an innovative financial services company that is able to offer customers integrated payment management solutions all over Europe. The next few weeks will initially be about to getting to know each other, exchanging ideas, learning from each other and building bridges, because our goal is to continue growing, together."

In close coordination with Gothia CEO Trond Kristian Andreassen, who will serve as co-CEO in the joint venture, Weinreich will now drive forward the imminent integration process. A main focus of this work will be to merge the arvato infoscore and Gothia services divisions that geographically complement each other, to create attractive Business Information services for customers.

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1. Number relating to fiscal year 2012.

Gothia Financial Group is a full-service provider for the entire invoice process chain. The company offers its clients solutions that range from invoicing to accounts receivable and liabilities management. With over 1,200 employees and more than 2,000 clients, Gothia is very well established in the Scandinavian countries as well as the UK and Ireland and has distinct growth opportunities in the GSA region, comprising Germany, Switzerland and Austria, as well as the Netherlands and Spain. In particular, arvato will benefit from Gothia's strong service portfolio in the rapidly growing eCommerce segment as well as in factoring. Potential is to be unlocked notably through the pan-European use of the PayByBill payment solution established by Gothia. Integration of this product rounds out arvato infoscore's portfolio in B2C factoring, which includes its own "Trust'nPay" solution.

About arvato

As a global BPO services provider, arvato supports business customers all over the world in successfully shaping their customer relationships. 64,000 employees in almost 40 countries design and implement customized solutions for this purpose. These consist of processes such as marketing and CRM services, supply chain management and distribution as well as financial services - all of which are interlinked by integrated IT platforms. arvato AG is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA. More information to be found at: http://www.arvato.com.

Press Contact arvato
Klaus Markus
Phone: +49-5241-80-34-08
E-Mail: klaus.markus@bertelsmann.de

Gernot Wolf
Phone: +49-5241-80-34 08
E-Mail: gernot.wolf@bertelsmann.de

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