To create a strong regional center for Central Europe in the area of systems integration and the delivery of IT services and products, with high added value for all market segments – this is the goal of an ambitious project which is jointly being prepared by Asseco Slovakia, Asseco Czech Republic, DATALOCK and LCS International. The project, which was introduced to the Warsaw Stock Exchange on 19 February, should be completed by 1 July 2009, when the four companies will be reconfigured into two large business groups: Asseco Central Europe and Asseco Solutions.

The companies will be reorganized into Asseco Central Europe (Asseco CE), to be formed by integrating Asseco Slovakia and Asseco Czech Republic. Both of these companies are the predominant contractors of total IT projects for both public-sector and large commercial organizations. Their subsidiaries – Slovak DATALOCK and Czech LCS International – will undergo a similar process at the same time. These two companies, dealing with the development, implementation and support of enterprise resource systems (ERP) as well as the supply of related services and products, will be jointly placed on 1 July under Asseco Solutions.

The individual companies will retain their legal identity, each having a three-member board of directors, and will keep their original board chairmen. The entire regional center will thereafter have a uniform management, with a single six-member executive board, consisting of members from the integrated three-member boards, to head each of the two groups.

Asseco CE’s highest-ranking officer will be Jozef Klein, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Asseco Slovakia. He expressed the entire process in the following words: “This integration project is another natural step toward strengthening the group’s position in the European IT market, with the aim of becoming the absolute leader in this area of the business. At the same time, it is the logical conclusion of the consolidation going on within the ASSECO group and reflects current trends in world IT markets.”

“We expect our customers and partners will value the opportunities a strong and stable partner in the form of a single organization will bring them,” added Jan Přerovskэ, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Asseco Czech Republic.

“Both companies’ commercial and technological portfolios complement each other very well,” say the respective Chief Executive Officers and Chairmen of the Boards of Directors of DATALOCK and LCS International, Peter Lang and Stanislav Sэkora. “All our current products we have been supporting and developing together, creating new opportunities for our enterprise information system customers, and thanks to this we have been able to guarantee them an even higher level and variety of IT products and services delivered.”

All of the above companies expect integration within the group to lead not only to increased competitiveness and market share in the region, but also to better financial performance. Last year this was quite outstanding (see the separate press release on 2008 results). Both Asseco CE groupings will open these companies up to further opportunities to operate in the European market.
Asseco Slovakia had already started the integration and consolidation processes at the beginning of 2008, when it acquired 100% of its Asseco Czech Republic subsidiary. Asseco Czech Republic subsequently acquired 96% of LCS International, one of the three major producers of business applications for the Czech market, and 100% of BERIT, a renowned European supplier of technology and related services in the field of geographical information systems, operational and technical systems and asset administration systems. Since 1 February 2009, Asseco Slovakia has owned 100% of DATALOCK, the leader in the area of enterprise information systems in Slovakia.