EXHIBIT 99.1
[COMPANY LOGO APPEARS HERE]
CONTACTS:
AT ASTEA AT BENDATA MEDIA RELATIONS INVESTOR RELATIONS
Jack Phillips Vance F. Brown Steven Greene Harvey A. Goralnick
Chief Financial Officer President
Astea International Inc. Bendata Inc. Sperling Greene Associates FOCUS Partners LLC
(215) 682-2500 (719) 532-7397 (212) 366-5060 (212) 752-9445
jphillips@astea.com vbrown@bendata.com sgreene@sperlinggreene.com info@focuspartners.com
ASTEA SIGNS AGREEMENT TO SELL BENDATA
HORSHAM, PA. AUGUST 17, 1998 - ASTEA INTERNATIONAL (NASDAQ: ATEA), a leading
developer and supplier of Customer Management Solutions (CMS) software, today
announced that it has signed an agreement to sell its Bendata, Inc. subsidiary
to Ixchange Technology Holdings, Ltd. (JS: XCH) for over $43 million in cash and
short-term guaranteed debt. The sale is subject to customary closing conditions
and to South African regulatory approvals. The date of closing is expected to be
in late August.
Jake LaMotta, President and COO of Astea, noted, "With the agreement to sell
Bendata, the Company has begun to re-focus its efforts on its core competencies:
the development of leading-edge, customer-oriented front office solutions. Front
office applications represent our historic strength and expertise, as Astea
played a pivotal role in developing the CMS industry. The divestiture of Bendata
will allow us to aggressively support the product initiatives started late last
year with the introduction of ServiceAlliance and V-Service, a unique, Web-based
field service product of the Virtual Service Corporation, a division of Astea
created early this year. These significant changes will benefit stockholders,
employees and clients. The proceeds of the sale will fund, among other things,
an expansion of the sales and marketing force to take advantage of dramatically
increasing product licensing opportunities."
Other uses for the proceeds from the sale include the expansion of Astea's
implementation and project management service capabilities. Investments are
targeted for both direct and indirect sales and marketing channels, as well as
for the extension of the Company's European and Pacific Rim infrastructure and
for its global product development efforts.
"We are convinced that this sale will benefit our Company," said Zack Bergreen,
Chairman and CEO of Astea International. "It supports the consolidation and
streamlining of Company operations, improves our CMS market focus and vision,
and funds continued expansion of our product development and sales and marketing
efforts. Both Astea and Bendata will benefit from this transaction."
Vance Brown, President of Bendata, agreed. "While Bendata focuses on
departmental/workgroup customer service applications, Astea's primary strength
is superior enterprise CMS software functionality," he stated.
ABOUT IXCHANGE TECHNOLOGY HOLDINGS
Ixchange Technology Holdings Limited develops client-server software solutions
for Internet applications and provides related products and services. The
company is based in Kramerville, South Africa, with U.S. offices in Denver.
Products include Customer IXCHANGE, Stock IXCHANGE, Internet IXCHANGE, Mail
IXCHANGE and Value IXCHANGE. The group also assists companies in adding value
to their internet processes via technological applications. Ixchange can be
reached at (011) 2711-444-1550 or via the World Wide Web at www.ixchange.com .
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ABOUT ASTEA INTERNATIONAL
Astea International develops Customer Management Software that enables
organizations to automate their field service, customer support, and sales and
marketing operations. Astea's products include DISPATCH-1, the industry's
leading and most complete customer service application; ServiceAlliance, an
integrated, client/server field service automation application that can be
easily configured and rapidly deployed; V-Service, a unique, web-based field
service application; and Abalon, a complete sales and marketing solution that
allows call centers to manage every aspect of the customerinteraction process.
Astea markets its products through direct and indirect sales and services
networks throughout North America, Europe, Israel, Asia, Australia and New
Zealand.
The company's customer base of approximately 650 companies and 45,000 end users
includes such industry leaders as Groupe Bull, NCR, Ericsson Telecom, Sun
Microsystems, GTE Customer Networks, Phillips Medical Systems, Siemens Business
Communications Systems, and Sprint. Astea differentiates itself by its
industry-leading customer care expertise, its commitment to providing "best of
breed" end-to-end solutions for automated customer care systems, and its
flexibility in offering a full spectrum of products for companies of different
sizes and needs. Astea can be reached at (215) 682-2500 or via the World Wide
Web at www.astea.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are made under the
"safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could materially affect
future results. Among these risk factors are the possibility that the sale of
Bendata may not close due to the failure to satisfy certain conditions, the
continuing acceptance of Astea's products, general competitive pressures in the
marketplace, and the continued overall growth in the customer management
solutions market industry. Further information regarding these as well as other
key risk factors and meaningful cautionary statements that could affect the
Company's financial results are included at length in the Company's Form 10-K
for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1997, filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
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