HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (Oct. 1, 1999) Sirsi Corporation announced today that it has entered into a strategic business alliance with CEA Capital Partners, a private equity firm that invests in media, communications and information service companies.
The alliance was formed to extend SIRSI's leadership position, according to SIRSI Chief Executive Officer Jim Young. The partnership will enable SIRSI to pursue more aggressively new business opportunities, as well as to make strategic investments in and acquisitions of other synergistic companies and technologies. As a result of the alliance and the continued wide acceptance of its popular Unicorn Library Management System, SIRSI expects to assume a dominant role in the library technology market.
"SIRSI has established one of the most stable, profitable organizations in the library technology industry. Under the same ownership and management for the past 20 years, we have experienced a long-term track record of profitability and steady revenue growth. We have become the industry leader and the one stable constant in this often volatile industry," Young commented. "To continue this leadership position in today's very dynamic environment, we need to work with other like-minded firms. Technology is changing and evolving at an unprecedented rate, and technology companies are increasingly looking to libraries and their technology suppliers as experts in meeting the information demands of end-users. To ensure that we continue to provide our customers with the most advanced, appropriate technologies available, we need to align ourselves with other high tech companies that share our strategic vision of providing fast, easy access to information and knowledge."
CEA Capital Partners has more than 50 years of cumulative investment experience. Its investment professionals have an outstanding record of making growth investments in private companies similar to SIRSI, using comprehensive industry knowledge, experience and creativity. Bill Luby, a CEA founding partner, said, "The key to our successful record has been our commitment to partnering with superior management. In Jim Young, Jacky Young and Mike Murdock, the founders and senior managers of SIRSI, we are confident we are working with the best team in the industry."
SIRSI, the leader in library technology, is a privately held company founded in 1979, with headquarters in Huntsville, Ala. SIRSI (www.sirsi.com) uses the most advanced technology available to provide easy-to-use information systems for libraries, businesses, and archives. With offices in major U.S. cities and subsidiaries in Australia, Canada, Latin America, the Middle East, the Peoples Republic of China, and the United Kingdom, the company has established its Unicorn products as the leading client/server library information systems in the world.