Acquisition(s)
12 Januar 2004 - 3:04PM
UK Regulatory
EDS Acquires the Feld Group; Completes Executive Team
Industry Icon Charlie Feld and Team Bring Distinguished Track Record Managing
Technology Transitions
PLANO, Texas, Jan. 12 -- EDS (NYSE: EDS), the
world's most experienced outsourcing services company, today announced it has
acquired Dallas-based IT consultancy, the Feld Group, for approximately
$41 million in cash and $48 million in restricted stock, warrants and options,
and has finalized its executive team.
The Feld Group is a privately held technology management firm that
specializes in reorganizing and realigning technology organizations to better
meet the needs of their enterprises. A leader in its field, the Feld Group
has successfully transformed the IT departments of several of the world's most
prominent companies including Burlington Northern Santa Fe and
PricewaterhouseCoopers and has been working with EDS as a consultant for the
past several months.
Industry veteran Charlie Feld, 61, who founded the Feld Group in 1992
following his tenure as CIO of Frito-Lay, has served as CIO for First Data
Resources, Delta Air Lines and Burlington Northern. Feld was named "One of
the 12 Most Influential IT Executives of the Past Decade" by CIO Magazine, and
Fast Company named him one of the IT industry's eight top turn-around experts.
At Frito-Lay, Feld and his team were widely recognized for innovation,
including an award-winning, handheld technology system they developed and
deployed to 10,000 route sales representatives in the mid-1980s.
"We believe the addition of the Feld Group to EDS speeds our transition to
an increasingly more cost competitive, high-value model -- bringing world-
class talent, consulting relationships and innovative IT management software,
processes and methodologies," said EDS Chairman and CEO Mike Jordan. "Just as
importantly, it extends the Feld Group's full range of transformation services
to our clients and prospective clients around the world. We see tremendous
growth opportunities in the business process outsourcing/business
transformation services market, and the addition of the Feld Group will
greatly enhance our offerings and expertise in the field."
The incentives-based agreement provides for virtually the entire 60-person
Feld organization to transition to EDS and support the company's core business
operations. In addition, EDS gains ownership of Feld's proprietary IT and
business process implementation software.
"EDS has a tremendous base of talent and resources," said Feld.
"Combining the Feld Group's IT management and process implementation expertise
with EDS' expansive global infrastructure will advance our client service
capabilities across a broad spectrum."
Under terms of the transaction, $37 million in cash was paid to Mobius
Venture Capital, which held a 40 percent stake in the Feld Group. In
addition, Mobius received warrants to purchase 898,921 shares of EDS common
stock at a strike price of $23.95 per share, valued at approximately
$7 million. The Feld Group employees received about $4 million in cash.
However, the bulk of the payment to the employees was in the form of options
to acquire EDS common stock, with an exercise price of $23.96, which will vest
over three years and have a five-year term, and restricted stock awards in the
form of shares of EDS common stock, which will vest over three years. Vesting
of the restricted stock and options is subject to continued employment with
EDS.(1)
EDS strengthens management team
As previously announced, EDS has transformed its structure from multiple
lines of business to a simplified, single-entity operating model. The new
model comprises three core operations working in parallel to create, market
and deliver client solutions: Global Sales & Client Solutions, Service
Delivery, and Portfolio Management. In conjunction with today's announcement,
EDS completes its appointments of executive leaders for each of these
functions.
Charlie Feld becomes executive vice president, Portfolio Management. In
this role, he will lead development of EDS' portfolio of service offerings and
solutions. Steve Schuckenbrock of the Feld Group becomes EDS executive vice
president of Global Sales & Client Solutions. They join former ChevronTexaco
CIO Dave Clementz who was recently appointed executive vice president, Service
Delivery.
Schuckenbrock, 43, chief operating officer of the Feld Group's consulting
business, has directed a team of CIOs and other IT leaders working with
Fortune 500 companies. He has also led engagements with major Feld clients,
including Coca-Cola and PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he served as acting CIO.
Before joining the Feld Group, Schuckenbrock led several technology
organizations within PepsiCo's family of companies, including serving as CIO
of PepsiCo and of Frito-Lay. While at PepsiCo, Schuckenbrock created PepsiCo
Business Solutions Group and engineered the successful integration of all IT
operations for the company's various businesses into one centralized unit. At
Frito-Lay, he automated the entire supply chain process, from supplier to
shelf, creating the industry's most progressive customer delivery system.
Schuckenbrock began his career at IBM, where he spent 11 years in a variety of
sales and management positions.
"Today marks a critical step in EDS' ongoing transformation," said Jordan.
"We've added world-class talent to an already strong organization. We now
have an executive management team that includes three former chief information
officers. With our new leadership team in place, we enter 2004 focused on
leveraging our core outsourcing services business, serving our clients even
more effectively and improving our cost structure and global capacity."
About EDS
EDS, the world's most experienced outsourcing services company, delivers
superior returns to clients through its cost-effective, high-value services
model. EDS' core portfolio comprises information-technology and business
process outsourcing services, as well as information-technology transformation
services. EDS' two complementary, subsidiary businesses are A.T. Kearney, one
of the world's leading high-value management consultancies, and UGS PLM
Solutions, a leader in product data management, collaboration and product
design software. With 2002 revenue of $21.5 billion, EDS is ranked 80th on
the Fortune 500. The company's stock is traded on the New York and London
stock exchanges. Learn more at www.eds.com .
(1) The options and restricted stock awarded to the former Feld Group
employees include options to purchase a total of 1,815,146 shares of EDS
common stock and 990,447 shares of restricted stock awarded under EDS'
Transition Inducement Plan, including 136,875 restricted shares issued to
Charlie Feld and 85,406 restricted shares issued to Steve Schuckenbrock. That
plan is used solely for equity awards that meet the "employee inducement" and
"acquired plan" provisions of New York Stock Exchange listing rules on equity-
based incentive plans. The remaining 472,217 options issued as part of the
transaction were issued under the 2003 Incentive Plan of EDS.
CONTACT:
Sean Healy
972-605-1290
shealy@eds.com
SOURCE Electronic Data Systems Corporation
-0- 01/12/2004
/CONTACT: Sean Healy of Electronic Data Systems Corporation,
+1-972-605-1290, or shealy@eds.com /
/FCMN Contact: jeffrey.baum@eds.com /
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(EDS)
END