Verlag Praktisches Wissen, founded in 1991, is active in the business-to-business market in Germany. Its customers are professionals such as tax advisors, tax consultants, accountants, controllers, real estate managers, HR officers, and management of small to medium-sized companies. VPW is a true electronic publisher - its products have been digitalized from the outset, with online offerings complemented by CD -ROMs and loose-leaf products. VPW will act as a separate business unit of Wolters Kluwer Germany.
VPW will enhance the strategic development of Wolters Kluwer Germany by adding valuable content that can be re-used for other Wolters Kluwer products and services, and cross-sold by other units of Wolters Kluwer Germany. The acquired company will also expand Wolters Kluwer Germany's management products list especially in the area of public company management and real estate management.
'I am very pleased that we were able to acquire this well-know brand name. Verlag Praktisches Wissen gives Wolters Kluwer a foothold in the German tax market, an important market in the context of Legal, Tax & Business Europe's strategy,' says Jean-Marc Detailleur, member of the Executive Board of Wolters Kluwer responsible for Legal, Tax & Business Europe. 'VPW also offers expansion of some of our current positions in management and human resources. Other benefits include adding VPW's know how in product development, marketing and procurement services to Wolters Kluwer's successful operations in Germany.'
The acquisition of Verlag Praktisches Wissen is the second acquisition in Germany this year. In October Wolters Kluwer acquired the legal software company AnNoText Gmbh.
AnNoText services the German market with hardware and workflow software, covering both practice management and legal expert tools. The company is Germany's second largest player in the market of workflow management software for law offices. AnNoText realized annual sales of more than EUR 10 million and employs 90 people.
The acquisition of VPW and AnNoText is the result of the further implementation of the growth strategy of Legal, Tax & Business Europe. LTB Europe - the biggest cluster of Wolters Kluwer with 2001 revenues of EUR 1,345 million and 8,335 employees - focuses its activities on the growth potential of six customer segments: legal; fiscal/financial; human resources; public & government administration; health, safety & environment (HSE); transport. The cluster's objective is to forge or enhance leading positions in each of these areas.
Note for the editor:
Wolters Kluwer is a multinational information services company with annual revenues of more than EUR 3.8 billion, employing almost 20,000 people in Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific. The company's core activities are Legal, Tax & Business, Health, and Education.
The Wolters Kluwer shares are quoted on the Euronext Amsterdam. Preliminary results will be announced in January 2003. The financial results for the year 2002 will be announced on March 11, 2003.
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