Thomson to Acquire Information Holdings Inc.

Posted on July 2, 2004

The Thomson Corporation and Information Holdings Inc., a provider of intellectual property (IP) and regulatory information for the scientific, legal, and corporate markets, announced that Thomson will acquire IHI. Under the terms of the agreement, a Thomson subsidiary will acquire all of the outstanding common stock of IHI at a price of $28 per share in cash, for an aggregate cost of approximately $441 million, net of cash and investments currently held by IHI.

"IHI further advances Thomson's vision and capability to develop pharmaceutical and intellectual property solutions that combine must-have content with software tools and applications to help our customers be more productive," said Richard J. Harrington, president and chief executive officer of The Thomson Corporation. "With this transaction, we're acquiring four businesses that can be seamlessly integrated into our Scientific and Healthcare group. We're continuing to build size and scale in this market group and we expect our Scientific and Healthcare revenues to double over the next five to seven years through growth of existing businesses and strategic acquisitions."

"IHI is a fast-growing business with innovative products that will enable Thomson to deliver a stronger integrated information service to new and existing customers in the pharmaceutical and intellectual property markets," said Robert Cullen, president and chief executive officer of Thomson Scientific and Healthcare. "IHI's current offerings, which are also largely subscription-based, complement our own products and services. Together, we are in position to significantly increase our opportunity to attract new customers in the pharmaceutical and life science industries."

IHI had 2003 revenues of approximately $81 million. Some of IHI's pharmaceutical and intellectual property products include:

• Micropatent, a database of first-level patent documents.
• Aureka tools, which bring advanced analytical and visualization capabilities to patent users.
• Master Data Center (MDC), which offers IP management software and payment services.
• Liquent, which provides value-added regulatory software and solutions, including support for the process of regulatory filings, in the life sciences and pharmaceutical markets. The IDRAC database provides reference information for the drug development regulatory environment.