RSSOctober 4, 2007, 4:59 PM
i-flex Solutions Increases its Stake in Castek to 100%
MUMBAI, India, Oct. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- i-flex(R) solutions (Reuters: IFLX.BO & IFLX.NS), a leading IT solutions provider to the global financial services industry, today announced that it has acquired a 100% stake in Castek Software Inc. The i-flex board has approved the acquisition today and the transaction is expected to close by March 2008.
Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Castek is a provider of core insurance- business processing systems for large- and mid-sized Property and Casualty (P&C) insurers.
In August 2005, i-flex had entered into an equity financing arrangement with Castek, that allowed i-flex to become its largest shareholder. Since then, i-flex held 59.9% of Castek's shares on a fully diluted basis. On completion of the latest transaction, i-flex will own all the outstanding shares of Castek and it will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of i-flex.
"Castek's product is proven and is being used by two large North American customers. With i-flex's wide market reach, the potential to expand is now great. Ever since we forayed into insurance a couple of years ago, we can offer insurance companies a scalable model of onsite, near shore and offshore services. Our full service dedicated units focus on both technology and business solutions. i-flex also has a dedicated Competency Center around the Insure3 platform", says N.R.K. Raman, Managing Director and CEO, i-flex solutions limited.
"This acquisition increases our market opportunity. It allows us to scale faster and take advantage of i-flex's expertise in Product Management and large scale implementations together with its CMMI level processes, infrastructure, global sales and delivery model", says Yung Wu, CEO, Castek Inc.
Castek's flagship product - Insure3 [pronounced Insure Cube] - is a SOA based Full Policy Lifecycle administration software which is delivered through a platform of best-of-breed, pre-integrated software components.
Celent, a Boston based research firm, forecasts that globally P&C insurance carriers will spend more than US$39 billion on software and services in 2008.
Castek's growing client list includes some of the biggest names in the US insurance market, and the flexibility of this suite makes it adaptable for implementation in countries across Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Since the commencement of its relationship with i-flex, Castek has acquired TMM (Tokio Marine Management) and GAIC (Great American Insurance Co.) as customers in the US.
About i-flex solutions
i-flex(R) solutions (Reuters: IFLX.BO and IFLX.NS), majority owned by Oracle, is a world leader in providing IT solutions to the financial services industry, with more than 765 customers in over 130 countries. Its range of applications software, custom solutions and consulting services enable financial institutions to cut costs, respond rapidly to market needs, enhance customer service levels and mitigate risk.
Together, Oracle and i-flex solutions offer financial services institutions the world's most comprehensive banking applications and technology footprint to address the most complex IT and business requirements.
i-flex and FLEXCUBE are registered trademarks of i-flex solutions. Reveleus, Daybreak, Mantas, PrimeSourcing, i-flex Consulting and iPFB are trademarks of i-flex solutions and are registered in several countries.
All other company and product names are trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
For more information, please visit: www.iflexsolutions.com
About Castek
Castek Software Inc. (Toronto, ON) specializes in strategic business software for Property and Casualty insurance. Recognized for the advanced architecture and flexibility of its products, Castek provides carriers with a suite of core business processing systems for insurance product and process configuration, policy processing, customer billing and claims management.
For more information, please visit www.castek.com or call (416) 777-2550.
For more information on the press release, please contact:
Eapen Thomas i-flex solutions Phone: +91-22-2823 5132 E-mail: eapen.thomas@iflexsolutions.com
Piya Roy / Parthajeet Sarmah Adfactors PR Pvt. Ltd. Tel: +91 022 22871361 Mobile: +91 9820740379 / 9967250356 Email: piya.roy@adfactorspr.com / parthajeet.sarmah@adfactorspr.com