Hewitt Associates Announces Agreement to Sell Cyborg Business
January 2008
Hewitt Associates, Inc., a global human resources services company, today announced an agreement to sell assets related to its Cyborg business, a licensed payroll and HR software services organization acquired in 2003. Under the terms of the agreement, Vista Equity Partners, a leading private equity firm focused on investing in software and technology-enabled companies, will acquire the business. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"The acquisition of Cyborg in 2003 allowed Hewitt to gain some important experience in the payroll domain at a time when we needed to complete our suite of HR outsourcing services," said Russ Fradin, chairman and chief executive officer of Hewitt Associates. "Going forward, end-to-end payroll services will continue to be a strategic element of our HR outsourcing offer as we build on the expertise gained from the acquisition and use it to continuously improve our comprehensive payroll solution for our large HR BPO clients."
Currently, Hewitt's Cyborg business provides licensed, processed and hosted payroll software services to a number of organizations in the U.S., Canada and the UK. Vista plans to maintain this organization as a cohesive, self-sustaining business that is resourced and fully capable of handling product development, marketing, sales, service and support for current and future clients. The new company will be singularly focused on delivering payroll and human resources management software and processing solutions. Hewitt will retain and continue to provide payroll services for its HR BPO clients and will continue to license the company's software as the core platform for those clients and for certain Hewitt internal operations.
"With this divestiture, we're taking an important step to streamline our HR outsourcing offer," said Jay Rising, president of Hewitt's HR outsourcing business. "Licensing software is not core to our strategy of providing end-to-end benefits, payroll, and workforce management services. The sale will enable Vista, an organization focused on software and technology-related businesses, to manage and grow this business for the benefit of Cyborg clients, while still providing a platform for Hewitt to continue delivering managed payroll services for some of our large multi-process HR outsourcing clients, as well as for ourselves."
According to Robert F. Smith, Managing Principal of Vista Equity Partners, "We are long-term investors in technology-enabled companies that are committed to being leaders in their markets. We are impressed with the product offerings and the track record of customer service and support that Cyborg provides their clients. We are also excited that this new business will maintain a strong relationship with Hewitt in providing the core platform for their managed payroll clients, thus ensuring consistency with their shared customers."
The transaction is expected to close during the company's fiscal second quarter, subject to customary closing conditions.
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