SDL International, one of the leading providers of Global Information Management (GIM) solutions, announced today that it has signed an agreement which is subject to, inter alia, Shareholder approval to acquire Tridion, one of the leading providers of enterprise class Web Content Management (WCM) solutions.

 Under the terms of the agreement, SDL will pay €69million (£47 million), which includes €16m (£11 million) of cash in the Tridion business. The transaction is expected to close in May 2007.

SDL’s acquisition of Tridion will further strengthen SDL’s leadership position in Global Information Management by adding a world class WCM solution to the SDL solutions portfolio.

• SDL helps corporations to drive global brand consistency and accelerate time-to-market by providing software and services to manage the delivery of all corporate information into different languages.
• Tridion provides WCM solutions that enable corporations to deliver consistent, interactive and highly targeted customer experiences across multiple Web sites and channels.
• Through the integration of SDL’s Translation Management System with Tridion’s WCM system, SDL and Tridion will deliver the first Global Web Content Management solution that allows corporations to communicate and interact with global audiences in multiple languages in an effective, efficient and timely manner. This is achieved by integrating Tridion’s BluePrinting technology and SDL’s TMS technology to manage the complex translation supply chain to create and maintain multilingual content for global companies.

“In today’s competitive landscape, global trade is an imperative that companies cannot ignore” says Mark Lancaster, Chairman and Chief Executive of SDL. “The combination of SDL’s translation management system, providing supply chain management and a virtual centralized multilingual repository, combined with Tridion’s advanced WCM technology will enable corporations to conquer the significant language barriers that often stifle the globalization of their businesses. The combined solution creates a Global Web Content Management solution which will allow companies to not only create, but specifically maintain multilingual web experience for their customers.

At a time when access to information is the currency of business, information assets are critical to the current and future competitiveness of any organization. Tridion enables organizations to use information efficiently and effectively in order to achieve their business goals. Tridion’s unique BluePrinting technology enables organizations to address and respond to new markets using local knowledge while maintaining strong control of their brand.”

“We are delighted with today’s announcement” says Pieter Varkevisser, CEO of Tridion. “SDL and Tridion share a joint vision and the combination of our solutions provides a compelling proposition for anyone using the web to compete on the global stage. We are convinced that the transaction brings value to all of our key stakeholders, our investors, our customers and our employees.”