Quotesmith.com Announces Agreement to Acquire Assets of Life Quotes, Inc., Plus $13 Million Equity Investment by Zions Bancorporation
biz.yahoo.com
Wednesday March 3, 7:45 am ET
Acquisition Expected to Add $10 Million of Annualized Revenue, Accelerate Path To Profitability
DARIEN, Ill., March 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Quotesmith.com (Nasdaq: QUOT - News) today announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of privately held Life Quotes, Inc., an Evergreen, Colorado-based life insurance agency. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Quotesmith.com also announced today an agreement to sell 2.36 million shares of its common stock to Zions Bancorporation (Nasdaq: ZION - News) for $5.50 net per share, thus raising $13 million in new capital, which is contingent upon the closing of the Life Quotes asset acquisition. After the completion of this capital transaction, Quotesmith.com will have 7.3 million outstanding common shares, with Zions holding a 32 percent equity interest and one board seat.
The Life Quotes acquisition is expected to double the revenues of Quotesmith.com and accelerate the Company's path to profitability. The combined firm will serve an installed customer base of 200,000 policyholders.
These agreements, which are subject to shareholder approval, are expected to close in the second quarter of 2004. Members of the Quotesmith.com management team holding more than 60 percent of the firm's outstanding capital stock have indicated their intention to vote in favor of these transactions at an upcoming shareholders' meeting.
Founded in 1979, Life Quotes is a highly regarded marketer of term life insurance utilizing direct response marketing methods combined with a call center staffed with licensed agents.
For Quotesmith.com, the ability to offer personal advice and service by phone will add muscle to the firm's retail insurance distribution capabilities and give every customer the choice of buying online or by phone. These additional service capabilities will also help Quotesmith.com better position itself to provide turnkey online insurance solutions for banks, an area that Quotesmith.com believes has growth potential.
"This acquisition fulfills several key strategic objectives for Quotesmith.com and underscores our commitment to serve the emerging self- directed insurance buyer," said Quotesmith.com chairman and CEO, Robert Bland. "The acquisition of Life Quotes adds a new operating unit with a strong track record of growth, profitability and recurring revenue. Ken Manley and his team of insurance professionals have built a terrific business that we expect to contribute $10 million of revenue on an annualized basis. We are also delighted to welcome Zions Bancorporation as a new shareholder at this very exciting time of growth and expansion for us."
"Quotesmith.com and Life Quotes have complementary missions," said Ken Manley, Life Quotes founder and president. "Combining Quotesmith's innovative online capabilities with our telephone sales expertise will substantially enhance the customer experience and strengthen the competitive posture of the combined firm at the same time."
Quotesmith.com CFO Phillip Perillo remarked, "The Life Quotes acquisition is attractive for our shareholders because it places us on an accelerated path to profitability and positive cash flow. We also expect the Life Quotes acquisition to expand our profit margins over time, primarily through cross- selling opportunities, higher production bonus revenue and the sharing of core operational costs across a much larger revenue base."
Life Quotes employs 80 insurance professionals and will continue to be operated as a stand alone profit center in Evergreen, Colorado by current management, with the exception of Ken Manley, who will retire from day-to-day management of the company.
Life Quotes had revenue of approximately $10.4 million in 2003 and is profitable. As previously reported in its year-end financial release, Quotesmith.com had cash and investments totaling $15.2 million as of December 31, 2003 with no debt.
Mystic Capital Advisors Group, LLC provided advisory services to Quotesmith.com, Inc. on the transaction.
Revised Business Outlook
In light of today's announcements, which include financial uncertainties relative to the timing and final cost of the pending Life Quotes asset acquisition, Quotesmith.com is withdrawing its previously-issued 2004 financial guidance at this time. Investors should no longer rely upon the 2004 financial guidance which was issued on February 4, 2004 because such guidance did not include the proposed asset acquisition of Life Quotes.
The Company's policy is to not confirm, update or otherwise comment on its financial projections except in compliance with Regulation FD. The projections in the guidance provided above are forward-looking statements and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties as described in "Cautions about Forward-Looking Statements" below.
About Life Quotes, Inc.
Life Quotes, Inc. was founded in 1979 by Kenneth L. Manley as a traditional life insurance agency. In 1990, Life Quotes began to pursue a business model that uses direct response advertising with licensed agents operating in a call center model. Life Quotes, Inc. is based in Evergreen, Colorado and has over 80 employees serving 60,000 customers.
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