SDL plc (“SDL”), the world’s leading provider of global information management solutions, announced today the completion of its acquisition of TRADOS, Inc. (“TRADOS”) following approval by SDL and TRADOS shareholders.

 As a result of this acquisition, SDL is uniquely positioned to support growth in the $8bn market for global information management software and services. The enlarged group enables businesses to manage global content through its complete lifecycle, with:

• Over 5 years' experience deploying web-enabled enterprise solutions with proven ROI
• At least 100,000 software licenses deployed right across the localization supply chain
• A global services infrastructure of 700 in-house translators employed in 30 countries, providing the world’s largest integrated linguistic services infrastructure in the world. This is supplemented by 500 professional support staff, 200 of which are based in low cost centres

SDL's market-leading support for industry standards enables easy integration of global information flows with existing enterprise systems. Global businesses have complete flexibility to automate and outsource business processes as required, empowering them to:

• Enforce brand consistency while being sensitive to local culture and terminology
• Improve quality by sharing translation assets, such as terminology and translation memory, across the entire localization supply chain
• Shorten time-to-market by leveraging translation assets across the complete information lifecycle from authoring to publication
• Gain visibility and control over fragmented localization processes

Commenting on the completion of the acquisition, Mark Lancaster, Chairman and CEO of SDL, said, "Key global businesses, such as Philips, HP, SAP and Morgan Stanley have increased international revenues and profitability using solutions from SDL and TRADOS. Now we are offering even greater flexibility for organizations to choose the right combination of technology, language and professional services to meet their global information management needs."

Structure of the enlarged group
SDL has aligned itself with customer needs by segmenting technology and services in the enlarged group.

Joe Campbell has been appointed to SDL’s Board of Directors as a non-executive director, adding a considerable level of expertise in enterprise software sales and US market knowledge.  Joe also brings years of experience with the US financial markets and M&A activity.  Most recently, prior to TRADOS, he was COO of iManage, a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ.  In his tenure, he helped lead the company in obtaining significant growth in revenue, profit and shareholder value, which ultimately lead to the sale to Interwoven.

Keith Mills is promoted to President Technology division, with responsibility for SDL’s complete technology portfolio. Clive Thomas, as Vice President Worldwide Enterprise Sales, will provide leadership to the SDL resources focused on enterprise software and solution sales. Keith Laska is promoted to Vice President Worldwide Desktop Sales and Marketing and will focus his resources on continuing to provide world-leading technology solutions and superior customer service to all organizations involved in the localization supply chain. Management of the Localization division remains unchanged.

Jochen Hummel is appointed General Manager EMEA (technology division) with a focus on technology architecture and ensuring SDL continues to serve the needs of SDL’s major customers within the localization supply chain.