The transaction allows companies to achieve significant synergies in products and market coverage

Spoleto - Cagliari, 5 March 2012 - Solgenia SpA (www.solgenia.com), Information Technology company that produces innovative technology solutions for businesses, today announced it has completed the acquisition of 100% of capital share of Akhela Srl (www.akhela.com) which is listed on the Milan stock exchange under the symbol SRS, is active in the ICT marketplace, and is a subsidiary of Saras SpA.

This strategic initiative is integral part of Solgenia’s growth and consolidation, which capitalizes on significant synergies both in product offering and in the market coverage.

Akhela, which will retain its corporate identity and positioning in the enterprise and large account market segment, brings with it a valued portfolio great significance: a portfolio of consolidated long-term contracts of around 90 million euros (including a long-term contract for Saras ICT services), a center of competency for the development of embedded software and software for mobile devices, and a data center of capacity.

Through this acquisition, this newly formed group will now hold a consolidated billing revenue of approximately 80 million euros, an extensive presence throughout Italy and subsidiaries in USA, Canada and Mexico, as well as autonomous capabilities in R&D and pay-per-use cloud computing solutions, through an autonomous Data Center and Solgenia’s innovative cloud management platform – Powua.

"The Solgenia group and Akhela are two companies that bring to market an elevated grade of complimentary disciplines and areas of expertise", said Mr. Ermanno Bonifazi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Solgenia SpA.  He continued, “The presence of Akhela within Solgenia will bring reciprocal advantages amplifying our joint competencies and reinforcing our presence in the market with enterprise and large accounts. The market positioning of Akhela within enterprise customers, in fact, strengthens Solgenia’s strategy to focus its attention within the mid to large enterprise market segment, across an offering of innovative solutions and services based on the new paradigms of Social, Mobile and Cloud Computing that Solgenia put at the center of its vision”.

"Akhela has grown in recent years predominantly servicing high rates of internal requirements. The acquisition by Solgenia, which confirmed the mandate and full powers of trust by the new ownership, will not only allow Akhela to consolidate its growth by continuing to ensure the highest level of quality in the delivery of services to our customers. It will furthermore enable us to implement our international strategy and differentiation - on one hand, through the synergy of product offering and Solgenia competency, and on the other through the complimentary nature of the markets in which the organizations conduct business”, said Piercarlo Ravasio, Chief Executive Officer of Akhela.

Solgenia is an Italian leading Information Technology company specializing in design and implementation of innovative solutions within Cloud Computing, Mobile Technology and Business Social Application. Solgenia solutions integrate business processes with collaboration technologies, and enhance people's working experience, bridging the gap between professional and personal use of IT to increase productivity and responsiveness to change and deliver more value to its customers. The company has ten branches in Italy (Turin, Genoa, Milan, Vicenza, Bologna, Spoleto, Rome, Naples, Bari, Foggia) and has a direct presence abroad in North America with Solgenia USA, Solgenia Canada, and Solgenia Mexico.

Solgenia’s consolidated revenues in 2012 are expected to reach over 50 million euros, employs approximately 500 employees, and serves more than 3,000 customers in Italy and abroad.

Akhela is an Information Technology company active in Information Security, Embedded Software, lifecycle management of complex application suites (AMS) and managed services and outsourcing from its own data center. The company has more than doubled its turnover in the last four years thanks to the strong presence in Large Customers and the ability to penetrate the market.

The company has distinguished itself for its proven high quality of services provided and the ability to introduce innovative technologies with a continued commitment to research and development with projects carried out in collaboration with leading national and international research centers. Akhela, whose registered office is at Cagliari, is present in Italy with offices in Rome, Turin, Milan and Maranello and has active projects in USA, Brazil, France, Germany, Lebanon. The company has a turnover of about EUR 26 million and employs 320 employees.

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