Longtop Signs Agreement to Acquire Giantstone, a Leading Core Banking Solution Provider in China
07 Enero 2010 - 3:30PM
PR Newswire (US)
Strategic Acquisition to Complement Longtop's Solution Offering and
be Accretive to Earnings HONG KONG, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire-Asia/ --
Longtop Financial Technologies Limited ("Longtop") (NYSE:LFT), a
leading software developer and solutions provider targeting the
financial services industry in China, today announced that the
Company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire for cash
100% of Giantstone Information & Technology Ltd., a leading
core banking solution provider in China. The acquisition is
expected to close prior to March 31, 2010, and is expected to be
earnings accretive for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011.
Founded in 2000 and exclusively focused on core banking, Giantstone
primarily provides implementation, customization, consulting as
well as maintenance services to a leading national joint stock
commercial bank. This leading national joint stock commercial bank
is replacing its existing core banking systems with a global
software company's core banking system as well as various
applications being developed by domestic vendors including
Giantstone. Giantstone also has its own proprietary core banking
product that in future will be targeted at smaller banks in China.
Giantstone has over 300 employees, most of whom are engineers
dedicated to core banking project delivery as well as research and
development. "We believe one of the keys to successful core banking
implementations in China is domestic knowledge which the Giantstone
management team, one of the most experienced in China's banking
industry, brings to Longtop. Over the next ten years, we believe
the national commercial, regional, larger city banks and smaller
banks in China will accelerate their investment in upgrading or
replacing their existing core banking systems. The acquisition of
Giantstone fills one of the main gaps we had in our product
portfolio and will allow us to capitalize on the core banking
opportunity in the non-Big Four Bank customer segment, which now
accounts for 35 to 40% of our software development revenues. Our
core banking competency will also open up new cross-sell
opportunities for our existing solutions such as BI and risk
management applications. Furthermore, Giantstone's proprietary core
banking solution aimed at smaller banks will also potentially open
up a new customer segment," said Weizhou Lian, Chief Executive
Officer of Longtop. According to the market research firm IDC, core
banking systems became the "largest IT investment category" in 2008
with a total market size of US$176 million, and over 20%, of the
total banking IT solution market. IDC expects demand for core
banking systems to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 17%
from 2009 to 2013 to reach US$397 million in 2013. Conference Call
Longtop will host a conference call today to discuss this
announcement, at 5:00pm Pacific Time/8:00pm Eastern Time on January
7, 2010 (Beijing/Hong Kong time: January 8, 2010, at 9:00am). The
management team will be on the call to answer analyst questions. To
participate in the conference call, please use the dial in numbers
below: U.S. Toll Free: +1 (866) 549-1292 or +1 (877) 538-6619 China
Toll Free: 400-681-6949 Hong Kong and International:
+852-3005-2050. This number can also be used as a backup for the
participants in the US and China. Passcode: 765115# A live audio
webcast of the conference call, as well as online replay of the
call, will be available on the investor relations section of
Longtop's website at http://www.longtop.com/en/index.asp . Safe
Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995 This announcement contains forward-looking statements
within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can
identify forward-looking statements by such terms as "believes,"
"expects, " "anticipates," "intends," "estimates, "the negative of
these terms, or other comparable terminology. Factors that could
cause actual results to differ include the effectiveness,
profitability, and marketability of the company's solutions; the
Company's limited operating history; its reliance on a limited
number of customers that continue to account for a high percentage
of the Company's revenues; risk of payment failure by any of its
large customers, which could significantly harm the Company's cash
flows and profitability; the ability of the Company to operate
effectively as a public company; future shortage or availability of
the supply of employees; general economic and business conditions;
the volatility of the company's operating results and financial
condition; the company's ability to attract or retain qualified
senior management personnel and research and development staff; and
other risks detailed in the company's filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements involve
known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on current
expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about the
companies and the industry. The company undertakes no obligation to
update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring
events or circumstances, or to changes in its expectations, except
as may be required by law. Although the company believes that the
expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are
reasonable, they cannot assure you that their expectations will
turn out to be correct, and investors are cautioned that actual
results may differ materially from the anticipated results. Any
projections in this release are based on limited information
currently available to us, which is subject to change. About
Longtop Financial Technologies Limited Longtop is a leading
software development and solutions provider targeting the financial
services industry in China. Longtop develops and delivers a
comprehensive range of software applications and solutions with a
focus on meeting the rapidly growing IT needs of the financial
services institutions in China. Longtop is the highest ranked
Chinese financial technology provider on the Global FinTech 100
survey of top technology partners to the financial services
industry. Independent research firm IDC has also named Longtop the
No.1 market share leader in China's Banking IT solution market and
the No.2 market share leader in China's Insurance IT solution
market in calendar year 2008. Headquartered in Beijing, Longtop has
six solution delivery centers, three research and development
centers and 95 ATM service centers located in 27 out of 31
provinces in China. For more information, please visit:
http://www.longtop.com/ . For more information, please contact: For
Investors: Longtop Financial Technologies Limited Charles Zhang,
CFA Tel: +86-10-8421-7758 Email: For Media: IR Inside Caroline
Straathof Tel: +31-6-54624301 Email: DATASOURCE: Longtop Financial
Technologies Limited CONTACT: Investors, Charles Zhang, CFA of
Longtop Financial Technologies Limited, +86-10-8421-7758, , or
Media, Caroline Straathof of IR Inside, +31-6-54624301, Web site:
http://www.longtop.com/ http://www.longtop.com/en/index.asp
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