Wolters Kluwer Signs Agreement to Acquire CGE Risk Management Solutions

Wolters Kluwer Signs Agreement to Acquire CGE Risk Management Solutions

January 16, 2020 – Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory announces today that it has signed an agreement to acquire CGE Risk Management Solutions B.V. (CGE), a leading provider of risk management software, including the industry-standard BowTieXP solution. The acquisition will extend Wolters Kluwer’s presence in the growing operational risk management software market.

CGE Risk Management Solutions serves risk experts in over 2,500 leading corporations and public entities worldwide who operate in high-risk and asset-intensive industries, including oil & gas, energy, aviation, mining, transportation, utilities, chemicals, manufacturing, and healthcare. CGE’s best-known product is the industry-standard BowTieXP, a barrier-based risk management solution for visual and qualitative risk assessment that can be used to analyze and communicate how high-risk scenarios around specific hazards develop. This solution allows the creation of bowtie diagrams to visualize risks, provide an overview of multiple plausible incident scenarios, and show what barriers organizations have in place to control these scenarios.

CGE will become part of Wolters Kluwer’s Environmental, Health & Safety and Operational Risk Management (EHS/ORM) software group, which also includes Enablon and eVision. The combined offerings will enable customers to improve their EHS, ORM, and risk performance and to conduct more responsible, productive, and safe operations.

CGE recorded revenues of €5 million in 2018, mainly from software and services. Wolters Kluwer expects the acquisition to achieve a return on invested capital (ROIC) above the group’s after tax weighted average cost of capital (8%) within three to five years of completion. The transaction is expected to have a positive but immaterial impact on adjusted earnings in its first full year. CGE was founded in 2004 and has approximately 30 employees, with headquarters in The Netherlands. CGE has a global customer base with the majority of customers in Europe, North America, and Australia.

“The addition of CGE Risk Management Solutions to our Enablon and eVision offerings will further the value Wolters Kluwer delivers to corporations in supporting their most critical workflows, and advances our leadership in the market,” said Stacey Caywood, CEO, Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory.

“We are very excited by the opportunity to join Wolters Kluwer,” said Arjan Verboom, Jeroen van Dommelen and Arjan Zipp, CGE executive leaders. “By combining forces, we can help deliver more value to our customers as we integrate BowTieXP into Wolters Kluwer’s broader EHS/ORM offering and create a comprehensive, dynamic barrier-based risk management solution.”

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.

About Wolters Kluwer
Wolters Kluwer (WKL) is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the health, tax & accounting, governance, risk & compliance, and legal & regulatory sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services.

Wolters Kluwer reported 2018 annual revenues of €4.3 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 18,600 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.

Wolters Kluwer shares are listed on Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices. Wolters Kluwer has a sponsored Level 1 American Depositary Receipt (ADR) program. The ADRs are traded on the over-the-counter market in the U.S. (WTKWY).

For more information about our solutions and organization, visit www.wolterskluwer.com, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Media	Investors/Analysts
Annemarije Dérogée-Pikaar	Meg Geldens
Corporate Communications	Investor Relations
t + 31 172 641 470	t + 31 172 641 407
annemarije.pikaar@wolterskluwer.com	ir@wolterskluwer.com

Elke Colpaert
Communications Enablon/eVision
Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory
t +32  479 91 07 47
elke.colpaert@wolterskluwer.com

Forward-looking Statements and Other Important Legal Information
This report contains forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by words such as “expect”, “should”, “could”, “shall” and similar expressions. Wolters Kluwer cautions that such forward-looking statements are qualified by certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from what is contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Factors which could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, general economic conditions; conditions in the markets in which Wolters Kluwer is engaged; behavior of customers, suppliers, and competitors; technological developments; the implementation and execution of new ICT systems or outsourcing; and legal, tax, and regulatory rules affecting Wolters Kluwer’s businesses, as well as risks related to mergers, acquisitions, and divestments. In addition, financial risks such as currency movements, interest rate fluctuations, liquidity, and credit risks could influence future results. The foregoing list of factors should not be construed as exhaustive. Wolters Kluwer disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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