e-Rewards and Research Now Agree Terms

Less than two days after it was announced that e-Rewards was considering buying online panel specialist Research Now, the firms have agreed on the terms of a cash acquisition, which values Research Now at around £85.1m.

As reported on Tuesday, under the terms of the deal Research Now shareholders will receive £4.30 in cash per share. Shareholders representing 69.5% of Research Now's issued share capital have already voted in favour of the transaction.

As part of the contract, the e-Rewards Board requires the ongoing equity participation of the Research Now management team in the combined business, and will roll over the management shares valued at around £10.6m at the offer price. These can be exchanged for shares in e-Rewards.

In the US, Research Now will be re-branded under the e-Rewards banner, while the rest of the company will retain its existing name for the foreseeable future.

On completion of the sale, Research Now's CEO Chris Havemann - who last week won the Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the London Stock Exchange AIM Awards - will assume overall management responsibility for the enlarged e-Rewards Group, as CEO and a member of the e-Rewards Board.

Geoff Westmore, Research Now's Chairman who will also join the e-Rewards Board, commented: 'e-Rewards and Research Now are highly complementary companies and their combination is very exciting. Bringing together these two leading players in the online fieldwork market will create a unique global offering for our combined customer base.'

Research Now undertakes research through its 'Valued Opinions' family of 36 online panels across Europe, North and Latin America and Asia Pacific. Texas-based e-Rewards runs a 'by invitation only' online research panel and employs more than 300 professionals at its offices in the US and Europe.

Hal Brierley, Chairman and CEO of e-Rewards, added: 'The acquisition represents the coming together of two well regarded companies to form a significant global firm that will be well positioned to serve the international online fieldwork and online panel sample services needs of marketing decision makers and market researchers.'

Web sites: www.e-rewardsresearch.com and www.researchnow.co.uk .