Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. (ticker: HSII, exchange: NASDAQ) News Release - 10-Jun-1999
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Heidrick & Struggles Signs Letter of Intent to Acquire Sullivan & Company
Business Editors
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 10, 1999---
Transaction Significantly Strengthens Financial
Services Practice
Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. (Nasdaq: HSII), the world's leading executive search firm, today announced that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Sullivan & Company, which specializes in the financial services sector and is one of North America's top 20 retained executive search firms. It is intended that Sullivan & Company will retain its name and identity for a period of time and will remain at its headquarters on 40 Wall Street in New York City.
"The acquisition of Sullivan & Company is extremely compelling from both a strategic and economic standpoint, and we are very pleased to have entered into this letter of intent," said Patrick S. Pittard, President and Chief Executive Officer. "One of our growth strategies is to acquire niche firms that complement and enhance our current industry practices - Sullivan & Company clearly meets our criteria. Strategically, Sullivan & Company's culture and experience in working at the upper levels of management make them an attractive partner, and its superb market position will enable us to increase our market share in the investment banking, investment management, and specialty finance sectors in senior level executive search."
"We believe Heidrick & Struggles uniquely represents our values and commitment to client service and is an ideal partner for Sullivan & Company," said Brian Sullivan, President and Founder of Sullivan & Company. "We look forward to leveraging the premier Heidrick & Struggles operation worldwide to create a global financial services practice that is unparalleled in the industry."
It is anticipated that a definitive agreement will be signed within 90 days, with closing subsequent to due diligence and other reviews. At closing, Heidrick & Struggles will issue 964,000 shares of its common stock to the Sullivan & Company shareholders. It is estimated that costs related to the merger will be $2.3 million to $3.5 million, and will include a non-recurring non-cash charge for the accelerated vesting of an employee equity ownership program currently in place at Sullivan & Company. The acquisition, which will be accounted for on a pooling-of-interests basis, is expected to be immediately accretive to Heidrick & Struggles' earnings.
Heidrick & Struggles is the world's leading executive search firm, specializing in chief executive, board of directors and senior level management assignments. Today, over 750 Heidrick & Struggles professionals serve a broad range of organizations including Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, major health care organizations, universities and not-for-profit organizations, leading mid-cap companies, and emerging growth companies from offices in more than 60 cities throughout North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. For more information about Heidrick & Struggles, please visit our website at (http://www.heidrick.com/).
Certain matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements that are necessarily dependent upon assumptions, estimates and data that may be incorrect or imprecise, and include known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of the risks, uncertainties, assumptions and factors that could affect the Company's financial results are included in the Company's recent SEC filings. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. All forward-looking statements in this news release are expressly qualified by these cautionary statements, and the Company expressly disclaims any duty to update such forward-looking statements.
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CONTACT: Heidrick & Struggles
Jennifer Silver (Media) 404/572-0019 or Lynn McHugh (Analysts) 312/496-1366
KEYWORD: ILLINOIS GEORGIA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED BANKING MERGERS/ACQ