CAMO to expand its Indian presence

CAMO AS, a global statistical software and IT services firm, today announced that it has reached an agreement in principle to acquire a privately owned Indian IT firm. The acquisition effectively starts CAMOs offering of Product Development services to the US

The Indian company offers Offshore Product Development (OPD) and testing services for global clients within multiple sectors, focusing on Microsoft technology. The company, which is a Gold Partner of Microsoft, offers complete product development services from specification through project management to testing services. It has close to 200 employees and the business volume is mainly generated from customers based in the US.

Starting with this acquisition CAMO launches OPD and testing services to the US and European market.

"CAMO is excited to now be able to offer complete IT-services ranging from products, product development, testing, consulting to staffing and recruiting. With this acquisition we are delivering according to our revised strategy, which also includes non-organic growth", Lars Österberg, CEO of CAMO says.

Transaction rational
The company is a strong player with good reputation in the emerging field of off-shoring product development work to cost-efficient countries, in this case India. The management team, who are also founders and main owners, will remain in the company and continue to expand its operation as a separate division within CAMO. CAMO expects synergies with its existing operation with software and staffing services in USA and Western Europe by cross-selling to CAMO’s over 3,000 existing customers.

Terms and closing
The parties have agreed not to disclose the company name at this stage. The transaction is expected to close within 60 days and is subject to confirmatory due-diligence and financing. CAMO has an exclusive right to negotiate with the owners.

The total purchase consideration (enterprise value) will be in the range NOK 23 - 28 million and is made up of cash, shares and earn-out. Last fiscal year, which ended 31 March 2007, the Indian company had revenues of over NOK 16 million with approx. NOK 4,3 million in net profit. Revenue is expected to grow significantly going forward with a continued good margin.

First Securities has been engaged as advisor for CAMO in relation to the financing needs.

About CAMO:

The CAMO group consists of two separate operational divisions; CAMO Software develops and sells advanced multivariate statistical software worldwide whereas CAMO IT Services is offering IT Staffing Services to companies in US, Europe and India. CAMO has its global headquarters in Oslo, Norway, with regional offices in Woodbridge, NJ US, and Bangalore, India. CAMO’s stock is currently listed at the Norwegian OTC-list with ticker CAMO.