DGAP-News: Zurmont Madison Private Equity acquires majority interest in CLS Communica-tion AG

Dynamics Group AGs / Acquisition

13.07.2009 

Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
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Media release

Zurmont Madison Private Equity acquires majority interest in CLS
Communica-tion AG

Zurich, 13 July 2009: Zurmont Madison Private Equity L.P. ('Zurmont
Madison') has acquired a majority interest in the leading language services
provider CLS Communication AG ('CLS'). The deal consists of a partial
buyout of the existing managing shareholders combined with an increase in
the company's equity. The funds will be used to make further acquisitions
and fi-nance ongoing global expansion. On completion of the transaction,
the existing management team headed by CEO Doris Albisser will hold a
substantial minority interest.

CLS Communication was formed in 1997 as a spin-off from the language
services departments of Swiss Bank Corporation (now UBS) and Zurich
Insurance and was incorporated with registered office in Basel. Today CLS
is a provider of integrated multilingual communication services in its core
areas of finance, insurance, life sciences, telecommunications and legal.
The company is one of the 15 largest global language services providers and
is the market leader in Switzerland. A number of major companies have
outsourced their language services to CLS. As a provider of integrated
multilingual communication and language technology solutions, CLS offers a
broad range of services. These include copywriting and editing, human and
machine translation, terminology databases as well as integrated client
applications. In 2008 the company posted sales of around CHF 60 million
with an internal headcount of 350 linguists and related specialists. In
addition to its own employees CLS has a global network of over 1600
external language specialists throughout the world. As a technology
innovator CLS employs state-of-the-art language technology and complies
with the most stringent banking confidentiality requirements.

Zurmont Madison's investment will secure the equity funding required to
execute the company's inter-national growth strategy. The language services
market is extremely fragmented and therefore offers good expansion
opportunities to a leading provider with a strong capital base. As a result
of the transaction, new directors from Zurmont Madison Management AG,
Zurich, will join the CLS board of directors, which currently consists of
Alfred Niederer, Markus Hildbrand and Doris Albisser. The new members are
Guido Patroncini, Andreas Ziegler and Michel Hirschi. The company's
operational management will remain in the hands of the present executive
team.

Guido Patroncini, founding partner of Zurmont Madison Management AG, said:
'We look forward to embarking on the next stages of growth together with
the successful CLS team. Zurmont Madison will offer financial backing as
well as support for the execution of a buy-and-build strategy.'

Doris Albisser, CEO of CLS: 'With Zurmont Madison we have found a
shareholder that fits well with CLS and is committed to long-term success.
This capital injection will enable us to continue and re-double our growth
efforts. We look forward to a successful and constructive partnership.'
 
About Zurmont Madison Management AG
The private equity team of Zurmont Madison Management AG, Zurich,
(www.zurmontmadison.ch) has closed 17 private equity deals to date for a
total equity investment of CHF 375 million and is focused on equity
financing for corporate successions, MBOs and spin-offs of corporate groups
in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The Zurmont Madison Private Equity
L.P. fund, which is advised exclusively by Zurmont Madison Management, has
a volume of over CHF 250 million and currently holds two majority
shareholdings: Röder Zeltsysteme und Service AG in Germany and the Swiss
company SMB SA in Ticino. Previous transactions include succession
arrangements for the Similor Group and Schlatter Holding AG and the
management buyout of Burckhardt Compression AG followed by the company's
subsequent IPO on SIX Swiss Exchange.

About CLS Communication
CLS Communication AG www.cls-communication.com is an international language
and technology services provider for multilingual communication in the
fields of finance, insurance, telecommunica-tions, life sciences and legal.
Headquartered in Switzerland with 14 locations in Europe, the USA and Asia,
the company specialises in the production, translation and management of
multilingual docu-mentation. Its client base includes some 1000 well-known
global companies, all of whom rely on their partnership with CLS
Communication to enhance the efficiency of their business communications on
a long-term basis.

Zurmont Madison
Andreas Ziegler
Tel. +41 79 436 28 29 
ziegler@zurmontmadison.ch

CLS Communication AG
Doris Albisser, CEO  
Tel. + 41 44 206 68 50
mediarelease_2009@cls-communication.com

Media Office 
Dynamics Group AG
Tel. +41 43 268 32 30
vdg@dynamicsgroup.ch 


DGAP 13.07.2009 
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