Canada Post’s epost acquires BCE Emergis’ webdoxs service
Canada Post's epost today announced that EPO Inc. has acquired the BCE Emergis (TSX: IFM) online bill delivery service, webdoxs. epost will combine the existing epost and webdoxs business-to-consumer services to provide Canadians with a single, Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) service that will be one of the most advanced of its kind in the world. The total purchase price for the webdoxs assets is $14.5 million.
Once combined, the enhanced epost service will represent a single and comprehensive electronic document delivery network that connects Canadian businesses and consumers online. Available through the online banking websites of Canada's leading financial institutions, and epost's additional access channels, the combined service will have more than one million registered consumer users, and will be available to the almost 10 million Canadians now banking online. The current epost and webdoxs services will continue to operate until the combined service is launched in approximately six months, and there will be no disruption for consumers using either service.
By consolidating the content currently available through the two services, epost will deliver over 200 distinct documents from 97 different Canadian businesses. For example, in Toronto, epost will deliver seven out of the 10 regular monthly bills and documents that a household receives, including phone, wireless, cable, satellite, VISA or MasterCard credit cards, retail credit cards, hydro and water.
"The addition of the webdoxs service to epost represents a significant enhancement for the epost business, and a new era in EBPP services for Canadians," said Roger Couldrey, president and CEO, epost. "Canadians have said that they want a single, universal hub for EBPP services, and the new enhanced epost service will truly deliver on the value promised by consolidated EBPP. The new combined service is expected to accelerate EBPP adoption in Canada, providing greater value to financial institutions offering these services to customers."
"With the success of epost in the last five years, Canada Post continues to be a global leader in providing new ways to communicate," said Philippe Lemay, executive vice-president, Business Development for Canada Post and Chairman of the Board of epost. "This is an important step in the efforts of Canada Post to offer its customers communications solutions that provide choices between physical and electronic delivery."
"There is no doubt that a single enhanced service that combines webdoxs and epost will provide even greater benefits to consumers, Mailers and financial institutions who present electronic documents to their customers," said Marc Filion, executive vice-president, BCE Emergis and president, webdoxs. "The decision to sell our webdoxs service is inline with BCE Emergis' strategy to focus on areas where it has unique expertise and core competencies in claims, payments and loan processing in the business-to-business segment."
The new combined service is scheduled to be available to Canadian consumers in approximately six months. epost will complete a technical migration to combine the content of the two services, and to make the new service available via all access points, including the epost website, the online banking websites of Canada's leading financial institutions (BMO Bank of Montreal, CIBC, Credit Union Central of British Columbia [coming soon], Desjardins, Laurentian Bank, National Bank of Canada, RBC Financial Group, Scotiabank and TD Canada Trust), epost's portal partners (Sympatico/MSN and Yahoo!), and Intuit's QuickTax and Quicken personal financial management software.
Teleconference details
epost will hold a teleconference for media and industry analysts to discuss this transaction on Thursday, July 8, 2004 at 11:30 a.m. (EDT). Roger Couldrey, president and CEO, epost, Michael Garrity, Vice President of Marketing and Sales, epost and Marc Filion, executive vice-president, BCE Emergis and president, webdoxs, will be present for the teleconference. Participants are asked to dial (800) 214-0694, and enter the pass code 783172# ten minutes prior to the scheduled start time.
About BCE Emergis
BCE Emergis Inc. is a leading North American eBusiness company. Its operations consist of supplying eBusiness solutions to the North American financial services and Canadian health care industries, automating transactions between companies and allowing them to interact and transact electronically. Its leading solutions are centred on claims, loans and payments processing.
BCE Emergis customers include leading Canadian health insurers, top U.S. banks, the top six Canadian banks and a number of North America's largest enterprises. The Company's shares (TSX: IFM) are included in the S&P/TSX Composite Index.
About epost
epostTM is the world's first electronic post office, delivering the mail online for Canada Post. epost is leading the evolution of mail in Canada by providing an expanding electronic document delivery network that connects Canadian businesses and consumers at a range of relevant online locations. For more information, please visit the epost website at www.epost.ca.
Contacts:
epost
Louise Picot
Communications Manager
416 313 4118
[email protected]
Lesley Sturla
High Road Communications
416 368 8348
[email protected]
BCE Emergis
Ann-Marie Gagné
Corporate Communications
514 868 2361
John Gutpell
Investor Relations
514 868-2232
