From: Karin Zilla (karinz@certifiedemployment.com)
Date: Fri Mar 07 2003 - 08:35:56 PST
Message-ID: <3E68CA6B.FF83D2B5@certifiedemployment.com> Date: Fri, 07 Mar 2003 08:35:56 -0800 From: Karin Zilla <karinz@certifiedemployment.com> Subject: [Fwd: For SLA chapter reflector]
Thanks to Sandy Malloy for this interesting next chapter, or maybe the
last chapter, of this continuing saga.
attached mail follows:
Message-Id: <se67857a.008@sfgw.bizwire.com> Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 17:29:12 -0800 From: "Sandy Malloy" <Sandy.Malloy@businesswire.com> Subject: For SLA chapter reflector
Hi, Karin--
I don't remember the address off the top of my head, so would you
please pass this along for me if you think it's of interest? Thanks,
Sandy
(trying to get out of here tonite....;-) )
Copyright 2003 PR Newswire Association, Inc.
PR Newswire
March 5, 2003, Wednesday
SECTION: FINANCIAL NEWS
DISTRIBUTION: TO BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY EDITORS
LENGTH: 1168 words
HEADLINE: EBSCO Industries, Inc. Announces Execution of Definitive
Agreements for The Purchase of RoweCom, Inc. U.S.A
DATELINE: BIRMINGHAM, Ala., March 5
BODY:
EBSCO Industries, Inc. (EBSCO), the global leader for the delivery
of integrated information systems and services, has executed definitive
agreements to acquire the U.S. operations of RoweCom, Inc. (RoweCom)
which includes the operations of Dawson, Inc., Dawson Information Quest,
Inc., The Faxon Company, Inc., Turner Subscription Agency, Inc.,
McGregor Subscription Service, Inc., and Corporate Subscription
Services, Inc.
The acquisition is contingent on, among other things, (1) U. S.
bankruptcy court approval, (2) successful closure by EBSCO of its
acquisition of RoweCom's European operations, and (3) support of
publishers representing at least 50 percent of the aggregate monetary
amount paid to RoweCom by customers which was not subsequently forwarded
on to publishers on behalf of these customers.
U.S. bankruptcy court approval is expected by early April. EBSCO
expects to receive French regulatory approval and close the RoweCom
Europe acquisition in two to three weeks. The publisher support
contingency could be satisfied even sooner. Following is a brief status
of actions that have been taken and are underway to secure support of
publishers.
Between February 20th and 24th, letters were sent to all of the
publishers (approximately 25,000) with whom RoweCom has a business
relationship to solicit their support (participation). When a publisher
agrees to participate, they agree to fulfill subscriptions to their
publications for which a RoweCom customer paid RoweCom, but for which
the publisher did not receive payment. In exchange for agreeing to send
issues, publishers are to receive the equivalent of the RoweCom
customer's claim on the bankrupt RoweCom estate to the extent of the
value of the subscriptions they have agreed to fulfill. To effect this
exchange and to receive the full benefit of said publisher
participation, library creditors of RoweCom should execute the
assignment of their claim to participating publishers. The mechanics of
how this works are more fully described in the next paragraph and
subsequent example.
Simultaneous to the publisher mailing, letters were also sent to
all U.S. customers of RoweCom U.S.A. The purpose of these letters was
to ascertain if a RoweCom customer who currently has a claim against the
bankrupt RoweCom estate (i.e., had paid RoweCom for journal orders for
which payment was never forwarded to publishers) would agree to
participate by assigning their bankruptcy claims to publishers agreeing
to participate. RoweCom customers would only be agreeing to exchange
their claim to the extent publishers agree to fulfill issues. See the
following example:
Example:
Assume a customer ordered and paid for 10 titles each costing
$100.00 for a total payment of $1,000.00 previously made to RoweCom.
Assume a different publisher publishes each title so there are 10
publishers. Assume RoweCom paid none of the publishers. Finally,
assume seven of the 10 publishers agree to participate.
The customer initially has a claim on the RoweCom estate equal to
$1,000.00. Should the customer decide to sign the letter and assign
their claim in exchange for issues, they would receive issues for seven
of their 10 journals (the journals of the seven participating
publishers). They would not receive graced issues for the journals of
the three non-participating publishers but would retain their bankruptcy
claim related to the value of the three journals ($300.00).
Please note: All a customer has to do to take advantage of the
publisher offer, and all a publisher has to do to indicate they would
like to become a participating publisher is the following:
1) Sign the 'RoweCom Prepaid Order Agreement' letter. The letter
is
duplex printed with the Customer Agreement on one side and the
Publisher Agreement on the other. Customers should sign the
side of
the letter that contains the words 'Customer Agreements' after
the
first paragraph. Publishers should sign the side of the letter
that
contains the words 'Publisher Agreements' after the first
paragraph.
2) Return the signed 'RoweCom Prepaid Order Agreement' letter to
the
following address:
RoweCom Prepaid Order Return
c/o Kurtzman Carson Consultants LLC
5301 Beethoven Street, Suite 102
Los Angeles, CA 90066
The letters have a requested return date of March 15, 2003. It is
critical that customers and publishers reply promptly, in order to
expedite closure to the situation and confirm the journal orders that
will be fulfilled by participating publishers. Return of the letters
via a traceable method is encouraged, as is expedited courier delivery
of returned letters from publishers located outside the U.S.
The communication process is being managed by Kurtzman Carson
Consultants, LLC. (Kurtzman). As publishers sign on to participate,
Kurtzman will be posting the names of the participating publishers to
their Web site www.kccllc.net/rowecom .
Once publishers and customers have responded, the responses will be
cross- matched to determine the exact publications publishers have
agreed to deliver to each participating customer. These details will be
supplied to participating customers. Likewise, publishers will be
supplied details of the journal orders they have agreed to fulfill and
the associated customers to receive these journals. RoweCom personnel
out of Westwood, Mass. will manage this process. Most continuing RoweCom
clients can expect to be supported by existing RoweCom customer service
staff with regard to their orders. Further information including
frequently asked questions and answers will be available shortly on the
RoweCom website at www.faxon.com and on the Kurtzman website at
www.kccllc.net/rowecom.
About EBSCO Industries, Inc.
EBSCO Industries, Inc. is a global corporation with sales, service
and manufacturing subsidiaries at work in 19 countries around the world.
EBSCO's business interests include information management services,
online and print journal subscription services, online research
databases, real estate development, commercial printing and more.
EBSCO, an acronym for Elton B. Stephens Company, is based in Birmingham,
Alabama and employs 4,000 people around the world. Additional
information on EBSCO Industries is available from www.ebscoind.com .
About RoweCom/divine Information Services
RoweCom, acquired by divine in November 2001, offers a wide range
of content sources and innovative technologies and provides information
specialists, particularly in the library, with complete solutions
serving all their information needs, in print or electronic format.
SOURCE EBSCO Industries, Inc.
CONTACT: Regina Kennamer, Corporate Communications of EBSCO Industries,
Inc., +1-205-981-5145, or rkennamer@ebsco.com
URL: http://www.prnewswire.com
LOAD-DATE: March 6, 2003
Sandy Malloy
Senior Information Specialist, Business Wire
800/227-0845 (415/986-4422) ext. 512
sandy.malloy@businesswire.com
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