Advant-e Corporation (BULLETIN BOARD: AVEE), a provider of Internet-based business-to-business electronic commerce services via its sole operating subsidiary, Edict Systems,, today announced that it has entered into a nonbinding Letter of Intent to purchase a privately owned Delaware corporation, Merkur Group, based in West Chester, Ohio.
The principal shareholder of Merkur Group is Rob D. Wadzinski, the brother of Advant-e CEO Jason K. Wadzinski. The proposed acquisition is subject to completion of due diligence and execution of a definitive purchase agreement by the parties. There can be no assurances that a closing will occur.
For over ten years, Merkur Group has helped organizations streamline the document-intensive aspects of procure-to-pay and order-to-cash business processes. Merkur Group solutions provide multi-channel document delivery, receipt, capture, archive, and workflow capabilities that are tightly integrated with CRM, SCM, financial, and ERP systems such as Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP, Baan, legacy, and many other business applications.
For the past several years, Merkur Group has generated revenue of approximately $2 million on a non-GAAP reporting basis. Advant-e expects the acquisition of Merkur to contribute to the Company's profitability during the second half of 2007.
Under the terms of the LOI, Advant-e Corporation will acquire on or about July 2, 2007 all issued and outstanding shares of stock of Merkur Group for a total purchase price not to exceed $1.6 million. The purchase will be comprised of cash not to exceed $950,000 and unregistered Advant-e common stock not to exceed 396,300 shares. Advant-e has secured an independent valuation for Merkur from Mills & Associates, a Dayton, Ohio based mergers and acquisitions firm.
Commenting on the business combination, Mr. Jason K. Wadzinski, CEO of Advant-e stated, "This proposed acquisition provides Advant-e with the opportunity to grow top-line revenue with document processing products that are compatible with our existing e-commerce solutions. In addition, the acquisition offers opportunities for combined Edict Systems-Merkur Group solutions targeted to new customers as well as extend the value both companies offer to existing customers."