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CHELMSFORD, Mass., Jan. 31, 2003 – Kronos Incorporated (Nasdaq: KRON) today announced that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire certain assets of its largest U.S. distributor, Minneapolis, Minn.-based, privately held Ban-Koe Systems, Inc. The acquisition will allow Kronos to sell its human resource, payroll and labor management solutions into additional parts of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin through its own direct sales network.
Under the terms of the acquisition agreement Kronos will pay cash for certain assets of Ban-Koe. Kronos expects to finalize the acquisition in March, at which time the organizations that subscribe to Ban-Koe's labor management maintenance contracts will become Kronos customers.
"We are excited about the Ban-Koe transaction for two reasons," said Mark S. Ain, Kronos chairman and chief operating officer. "First, the Minneapolis/St. Paul area is home to many corporate headquarters. And second, we can tap the vast domain expertise that Ban-Koe's tenured employees have developed since Ban-Koe became a Kronos distributor in 1981."
William Bangtson, president and founder of Ban-Koe, commented on the acquisition, "We enjoyed our 20-year run as a leading Kronos distributor. The time has come to transition our labor management business to Kronos while we steer Ban-Koe Systems in other directions. Kronos' acquisition of our labor management business will present a great opportunity for Kronos, and certainly a great opportunity for our well-established customer base."
Ban-Koe will continue to provide products and services from their 6 groups: