Professional services company SBI and Co. has signed an agreement to purchase IT consulting firm Razorfish Inc. for about $8.2 million, the companies said in a joint statement issued today.
According to the statement, Salt Lake City-based SBI will pay $1.70 per share for the approximately 4.8 million outstanding shares that New York-based Razorfish listed on its most recent earnings release.
The companies said the tender offer is scheduled to begin within 10 business days and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2003. The acquisition has been approved by the management of both companies.
Ned Stringham, SBI's president and CEO, said the acquisition of Razorfish completes his company's strategy to build an industry-focused professional services firm for Internet-driven businesses.
He said Razorfish's people, customer relationships and service offerings are an excellent fit with SBI's business.
The deal expands SBI's client list, increases its workforce from 700 to approximately 900 employees and moves it into more U.S. cities, including New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco, according to the companies.
Razorfish CEO Jean-Philippe Maheu said the deal is good for his company's clients as well as for its employees.
Maheu said clients will be better served by the combination of SBI's technical skills, especially in back-end transactional systems, and Razorfish's skills in building extended enterprise portals. And, he said, the combined company will offer more growth opportunities for its employees.