Optims Acquires Hogatex And Thus Becomes One Of The Leading Providers Of Business Intelligence Solutions For The Tourism Industry Worldwide
Optims S.A (Evry, France), European leader in Revenue Management and IT enabling solutions dedicated to the hospitality, catering, tourism and transport industries, announces that it has just acquired the German company Hogatex (Vaterstetten near Munich, Germany), one of the world's leading providers of business intelligence solutions for the hotel and foodservice industry.
Within the scope of this agreement, Hogatex is becoming one of the European branches of Optims with its principal office in France and branches in the most important European countries: England, Spain, Italy, Portugal and now Germany (with offices in Vaterstetten and Berlin) as well as Austria and Finland. The joint-venture of Optims and Hogatex opened in Singapore in January 2002, now equally becomes a branch office that belongs 100% to Optims. The distribution networks of both, Optims and Hogatex, constituting a group of about twenty worldwide, will also enrich the geographical scope of both companies - especially in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Richard Kürzl, founder and CEO of Hogatex, will stay on top of Hogatex and its branch offices and will join the management board of the group.
With this acquisition, the number of employees of Optims has grown to 270, caring for more than 5'000 customers in more than 70 countries. Its turnover amounts to more than 30 million Euros. "This acquisition is crucial in terms of strategy for the future of the Optims group", states Antoine Medawar, CEO of Optims. "It completely fits in our strategy of becoming internationally active and competitive, which we already announced in 2000 with our introduction to the stock exchange." Cooperation between Optims and Hogatex began in May 2001, when Optims purchased 25.1% of Hogatex' capital. "Synergies between our two companies that have been introduced since one and a half years are evident and will grow not only in the fields of commerce but also in technology and - last but not least - geographically. They now allow us to strengthen our cooperation and to perform strong mutualisations not only with respect to our technological expertise but also to our corresponding teams. In addition, profit-oriented capacity of Hogatex and return to profit of Optims - already announced at the end of June 2002 - will help improve our economic profitability already this year."
"Hogatex is perfectly complementary to Optims", continues Antoine Medawar. "The company benefits of a high-level technological expertise as regards to business intelligence solutions in the hotel and foodservice industry (with the Starlight® product family, an internationally approved PMS that comprises front office, sales & marketing, conference and banqueting and an international financial management system) that will complete competences of Optims harmoniously, especially in the field of Yield Management and electronical reservation and distribution.
Hogatex CEO Richard Kürzl concludes, "We are going to promote our different products to our extended respective sales territories, which will guarantee us a much stronger presence worldwide. In parallel, Optims and Hogatex will collaborate in developing and introducing of new technological solutions. Here, mutualisation of our capacities in research & development and our expertise once again will help us save time when developing new products that perfectly meet the demands of the hospitality industry. These are the key factors of our success."
About Hogatex
Hogatex, member of the Optims group, is a leading provider of business intelligence solutions for the hotel and foodservice industry. Solutions comprise property management systems (Front Office, Corporate Conference Manager CCM, Sales & Marketing), point of sale (POS), customer relationship management (CRM), stock & inventory control (ERP), revenue management system (RMS / Yield), central reservation system (CRS) and Internet reservation system.
Amongst Hogatex' best-known customers are Accor, Hyatt International, the luxury group Beachcomber, Howard Johnson Argentina, the Swiss Hapimag group and Restel, the biggest hotel and restaurant chain in Finland. Additional companies working with Hogatex solutions include the Palace Hotel Gstaad, the Montecasino, Johannesburg, the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, E.ON Düsseldorf, UBS (Union Bank of Switzerland), the Unique Airport Conference Center in Zurich and the FIFA, Zurich.
About Optims
Optims develops and implements information technology solutions dedicated to optimising management methods and revenues. For the past decade, Optims has been serving the hospitality, tourism, catering, transport and travel industries with three complementary technologies. These include property management systems (PMS), yield management solutions known as revenue management systems, and central reservation systems (CRS).
Among Optims' prestigious clients are Accor, Le Meridien, Châteaux & Hôtels de France, Thistle, Boscolo, Fram, Nouvelles Frontières, Radisson SAS and Savoy Group. Optims issued its initial public offering (IPO) on the Nouveau Marché in the Paris stock exchange in June 2000 (SICOVAM code: 7652).