Wolters Kluwer and Sdu have decided to discontinue the negotiations on the sale of ten Hagen & Stam to Sdu. The conditions to reach a final agreement, as agreed upon by Wolters Kluwer and Sdu in the second half 2002, could not be met.
The negotiations on the sale of ten Hagen & Stam to Sdu started in the summer of 2002 and an agreement in principle was reached on October 24, 2002. A final agreement was among other conditions, under consideration of approval of the anti-trust authorities (Nma) and regulatory consultation of both involved works councils. The NMa reflected no objections against the sale of ten Hagen & Stam to Sdu and the advice of the Works Council of ten Hagen & Stam was positive.
As yet, Wolters Kluwer does not have plans to take other initiatives to divest ten Hagen & Stam. ten Hagen & Stam will remain part of Wolters Kluwer as a stand alone business unit. The employees and representative bodies are informed on the decision.
ten Hagen & Stam, located in the Hague (the Netherlands), employs around 520 people, and reported revenues in 2002 of about EUR 90 million. The activities are publications on ICT, construction and industry.
Note for the editor Wolters Kluwer is a multinational information services company with annual revenues (2002) of more than EUR 3.9 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. Wolters Kluwer's shares are quoted on the Euronext Amsterdam and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices. The Annual General Meeting of Shareholders will take place on April 16, 2003.
Announcements financial results: Trading update 1st quarter: May 14, 2003 Figures first-half 2003: August 12, 2003 Trading update 3rd quarter November 12, 2003