Exhibit 99.1
CONTACTS:
Scient
Katie McManus
(212) 500-5058
kmcmanus@scient.com
SBI and Company
Michael Adams
(801) 492-1479
madams@sbiandcompany.com
SCIENT ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION BY SBI AND COMPANY
SCIENT CLIENTS TO WORK WITH SAME TRUSTED CONSULTANT TEAMS
WHILE BENEFITING FROM SBI'S SOUND FINANCIAL POSITION
NEW YORK, July 17, 2002 - Scient, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCNT) today announced that SBI
and Company, a leading professional services firm, has signed an agreement with
Scient to acquire certain assets and operations as a result of Scient's
financial restructuring process. These assets include talented and experienced
employees from across the U.S. and the U.K. and expertise in industry vertical
markets. This acquisition will enhance Scient's ability to deliver superior
services to its clients with an even greater range of capabilities, combined
with being part of a firm with strong financial performance and solid financial
backing.
"We are excited about this acquisition because it allows us to continue working
with our clients in a seamless manner to deliver the results they expect from
us," said Bob Howe, Chairman for Scient. "If you take away the burden of our
long-term financial obligations, Scient is a very experienced and extremely
capable organization with enduring relationships with top-tier clients. Scient
and SBI and Company also have a similar approach to business--we both have
in-depth industry experience and use technology to solve business problems for
our clients."
"SBI and Company continues to execute on its long-term strategy of building a
business composed of world-class professionals serving clients they are deeply
committed to," said Ned Stringham, president and CEO of SBI and Company. "SBI
has proven we can successfully grow our business through a balanced combination
of organic growth and strategic acquisitions, and we are confident that the
addition of the people and client relationships from Scient will be just as
successful. We welcome Scient's people and clients to SBI."
BUILDING A FORMIDABLE SERVICES COMPANY
SBI and Company's service offerings, coupled with Scient's strength in customer
experience management services, will result in an even stronger combination of
customer-, enterprise- and supplier-facing capabilities. These offerings are
planned to include business assessment, business process optimization,
enterprise application deployment and integration, supply chain management,
customer collaboration, user experience, branding, visual design, technical
architecture design and onsite/offsite/offshore application development.
The acquisition will also create a company that has deep experience, expertise
and focus on the manufacturing, retail, transportation, telecommunications,
financial services and consumer packaged goods industries.
Finally, Scient's alliance partner relationships complement and strengthen SBI
and Company's existing partner relationships with leading technology companies.
ACQUISITION DETAILS
Concurrent with this news release, Scient has announced it has filed a voluntary
petition with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York for relief under Chapter 11
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of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. SBI and Scient management have worked together to
sign an agreement whereby SBI and Company will purchase certain assets of
Scient, and SBI has committed to provide to Scient debtor-in-possession
financing of up to $4.9 million (borrowing availability to be dependent on
regular budgeting) pending the completion of the asset purchase. The two
companies will jointly present the proposed purchase to the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court and expect it to be approved. These actions will allow Scient to continue
to deliver services to its clients without interruption until court approval of
SBI and Company's acquisition is received.
Once the deal is finalized, Scient will cease to operate as a separate company
and the assets will be integrated into SBI and Company. SBI expects this
acquisition to be accretive to earnings in its first quarter of operations
inside SBI. "All of our earlier acquisitions have been profitable from day one
and we expect this to be no different," added Stringham.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES
Scient President and CEO, Christopher M. Formant, has decided to step down as
CEO, but will remain on the Scient Board. "We want to thank Chris for his
leadership and dedication to Scient through our merger of the past year and
through the acquisition process with SBI. We are pleased that he will continue
to help us through the transition, and appreciate his support," said Howe.
Stephen Mucchetti, Vice Chairman of the Board of Scient, will become President
and Chief Executive Officer for Scient, Inc. "We are very pleased that an
executive of Steve's caliber, experience, and close relationship with Scient can
lead the firm through the restructuring process and successful completion of the
sale to SBI and Company. Our clients, colleagues, partners and creditors will
benefit from the continuity in leadership and the experience Steve brings in
restructuring companies, and we are confident that Scient will continue to
provide outstanding support to them," added Howe.
ABOUT SBI AND COMPANY
SBI and Company is a leading professional services firm that helps clients
leverage technology, business process optimization (BPO) solutions, and creative
services to improve their businesses. SBI's customer-, enterprise-, and
supplier-facing solutions help clients acquire, retain and extend customer
relationships, improve collaboration and coordination across their value chain,
enhance operational productivity and efficiency, and gain more value from their
enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The company's vertical market,
business process, technology and creative expertise coupled with proven delivery
methodologies, enable it to provide solutions on time and on budget. SBI and
Company, headquartered in Salt Lake City, has offices in most major cities
across the U.S. For more information, visit www.sbiandcompany.com.
ABOUT SCIENT, INC.
Scient is a leading consulting and professional services company focused on
transforming clients' businesses through the creation of multi-channel
experiences that strengthen connections among people, businesses and
communities. Scient's industry-focused teams of strategists, user experience
experts, designers and engineers have together delivered thousands of projects
for some of the world's largest and most respected companies, helping them to
realize cost efficiencies, generate revenue and strengthen customer
relationships. Founded in 1996, Scient is headquartered in New York with offices
in London and key regions throughout the United States. For more information,
please go to www.scient.com or call (212) 500-4900.
DISCLAIMER:
This release contains certain forward-looking statements regarding Scient,
including statements about its operations, prospects and expectations about
future financial results. These forward-looking statements involve risks and
uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially. These
risks and uncertainties include the ability to complete the anticipated
transactions described above on acceptable terms, the ability to implement the
strategies outlined above, the demand for Scient's services, Scient's ability to
obtain additional projects with existing or new clients, Scient's ability to
provide services to existing and new clients, the sufficiency of Scient's sales
and marketing teams, future growth, absence of long-term contracts with clients,
key management and employee retention, competition, technological advances, and
other factors identified in Scient's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including but not limited to the 10-K and subsequent 10-Qs. Copies
of those filings are available from the Company and the SEC. SOURCE Scient ###
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