| [17/08/2000] |
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| set for flotation on Frankfurt Stock Exchange by Fall 2000 |
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Stuttgart, 17 August 2000 - Stuttgart-based is planning to go on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange by Fall this year. In the run-up to the flotation the web business outlet, which was set up in 1996 by today's CEO Guido Alt as a media group, recently became a stock corporation under German law.
The consortium of issuers is jointly lead by Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and the Baden-Württemberg Landesbank. caatoosee designs, develops and operates information and transaction platforms for e-commerce. Its client portfolio features a number of top players including DaimlerChrysler, Deutsche Bank and Gehe.
The Internet and intranet platforms developed by caatoosee use a customized user profile system to deliver the right information at the right time to the right person in the right place. "To fully exploit the enormous potential there is out there in the electronic market place, in online communities and other Internet and Intranet solutions, the recipients and users need to be able to achieve their communication and information goals on a personal level", Guido Alt explained. "Thanks to its Profile Care management approach caatoosee can provide platform operators with intelligent solutions for client acquisition and retention."
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| Linking software to content |
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As a result, the Group which continues to expand in Europe has strategically pitched its portfolio of services at implementing a convergence of software and content, and offers a range of solutions throughout the supply chain for web-based businesses. When designing and delivering network platforms, caatoosee uses its own turn-key solutions and standalone software modules for specific applications such as logistics and distribution. Moreover, caatoosee is the first e-commerce services provider to enable its clients to organize the distribution of the customized content they need based on end-user profiles. This explains why the corporation set up the contara AG joint venture with the German publishing group Georg von Holtzbrinck. To round off its list of services, the Group offers clients a range of facilities for marketing and running network platforms. caatoosee has also acquired a reputation for itself in marketing processed and batched data from its network platform operations.
caatoosee has established a revenue stream thru fees derived from licensing, implementing and customizing software solutions and products, as well as from supplying content and marketing data and platforms. In addition, the corporation also benefits from the successful deployment of its platforms through a series of transactional and user-based charges.
caatoosee's software platforms have been carefully designed to enable e-commerce transactions to take place between manufacturers, suppliers and consumers ("B2B2C" = business-to-business-to-consumer). caatoosee is therefore already well-positioned in what is an extremely dynamic market that is set to expand in the future. Recent market research indicates that B2B markets will be worth USD 1,400,000m in Europe alone by 2004. |
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| On a straight path to international expansion |
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| Together with just four staff, Guido Alt started out in April 1996 as the "Media Group Agency for New Media". By mid-1998 the company was already busy building up its product and licensing business. Barely a few months later in spring 1999, Alt had already secured deals to set up production outlets in Prague (Czech Republic) and Zagreb (Croatia), the first step on the path to corporate expansion in Europe. Armed with a carefully planned strategy to become the leading network services supplier in Europe, caatoosee first took over Pandora Neue Medien GmbH and followed this up by acquiring a 76.2% stake in Connex Software GmbH in March this year. With its next takeover of the Swiss EDIfact AG business in May 2000, caatoosee was able to further develop its expertise in linking platforms to back-end processes (e.g. ERP systems). |
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A further string was added to the bow of caatoosee's successful expansion strategy in July 2000 with the takeover of IT-Networks GmbH, a consulting and software development house based in Ludwigsburg (Germany). At the same time, the logical string of caatoosee start-ups in Britain, Italy, Romania and the USA (June 1998) was further proof of the fact that the Group had become an international player. And in a parallel development, the Group's drive for expansion saw it set up a number of joint ventures: contara AG was established in cooperation with the publishing group Georg von Holtzbrinck, stratobyte AG originated in cooperation with EADS/Astrium and a further JV is due to be rolled out this August together with Deutsche Sparkassen Verlag GmbH, the publishing arm of the German savings banks. Altogether, caatoosee employs 227 staff at its headquarters in Stuttgart and branches in Berlin, Frankfurt, London, Milan, Prague, Timisoara (Romania), Washington D.C. and Zagreb. For the 1999/2000 business year ending March 31 caatoosee had achieved total sales worth DM 14.8m and an EBITDA of DM 0.2m. The figures are based on a pro forma audit based on US-GAAP criteria and incorporate all majority holdings of the Group.
The chairman of the supervisory board is Dr. h. c. Lothar Späth, president of Jenoptik AG and former governor of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Guido Alt is the majority stockholder, with the remaining stock distributed among strategic partners and financial investors.
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