Information Arts signs acquisition agreement with Harte-Hanks

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 16-Oct-07, 13:20

LONDON - UK data management company Information Arts has given US giant Harte-Hanks the option to acquire it in the future.

The agreement also enables Information Arts to provide analytics and data services to Harte-Hanks customers in the EMEA region, beginning immediately.

Gary Skidmore, executive vice-president, and president of direct marketing at Harte-Hanks, said: "In North America, our own analytics team of analysts and vertical market experts has been providing insights to clients as part of our data-driven marketing efforts.

"Working with Information Arts, we plan to extend such expertise to our response, segmentation, modeling, data integration, data enhancement and market opportunity analyses performed specifically in EMEA markets, particularly in business-to-business markets. This arrangement allows us to expand our capabilities right away, while also providing an opportunity for our companies to work together as a first step toward a potential acquisition."

Information Arts, which was formed in 2000, has clients including Xerox, Vodafone, Thus, DHL and GSM.

Simon Lawrence, chief executive of Information Arts, said: "Information Arts is an established leader in relationship marketing strategies and our focus on sales lead and global data management services is a superb match for Harte-Hanks clients in the EMEA region, many of which are in business-to-business markets."