FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August
1, 2006
Huron
Consulting Group Acquires
Aaxis
Technologies and Document Review Consulting Services, LLC
Acquisitions
Bolster Huron’s Service Offerings to the Legal
Community
CHICAGO
-
August 1, 2006 - Huron Consulting Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HURN), a leading provider
of financial and operational consulting services, today announced the
acquisitions of Aaxis Technologies and Document Review Consulting Services,
LLC
to enhance the Company’s service offerings to the office of the general counsel
and their law firms.
“The
advent of communication technologies has created a document explosion, and
legal
counsel need experts to manage the proliferation of printed and electronic
documents,” said Gary E. Holdren, chairman and chief executive officer, Huron
Consulting Group. “The acquisitions of Aaxis Technologies and Document Review
Consulting Services, LLC bolsters Huron’s ability to help the office of the
general counsel manage information in a comprehensive manner in litigation,
investigations, and mergers and acquisitions, and other major
transactions.”
Aaxis
Technologies, based in Washington, D.C., provides full-service electronic
data
discovery support to litigation teams and corporate counsel across the country
with a focus on forensics and data gathering, end-to-end data processing,
and
information consulting.
Eric
Ansley, president, Aaxis Technologies said, “Joining forces with Huron will
enable us to provide a broader range of services to clients in the legal
community. We have worked on client assignments with Huron in the past, and
we
have a great deal of respect for their reputation, capabilities, and market
presence.”
Document
Review Consulting Services, LLC (“DRCS”) is based in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
The management team of DRCS, which formerly operated NEXTRA Litigation
Solutions, LLC, will continue to provide a comprehensive document review
business using experienced contract reviewers. The utilization of experienced
contract reviewers allows for cost-effective and flexible solutions to meet
client needs.
Bob
Rowe,
president,
Document Review Consulting Services, LLC said, “We and Huron are believers in
providing solutions-oriented services to clients, and this transaction will
enable our clients to benefit from a broad portfolio of litigation support
and
review services.”
Under
the
terms of the purchase agreements, Huron has acquired all the assets of one
company and the stock of the other company, including approximately $6 million
of accounts receivable, for an aggregate purchase price of $24 million. On
a
combined basis, Aaxis Technologies and Document Review Consulting Services,
LLC
had unaudited trailing 12 month revenues of approximately $18 million.
The
acquisitions of these two companies provide more than the addition of their
existing business to Huron. Both companies have established facilities and
proven methodologies, solutions, and workforces that will expand Huron’s service
offerings to its current general counsel and law firm
clients.
Huron
expects that the acquisitions will be accretive to 2006 earnings and will
provide guidance updates when it releases results for the second quarter
of
2006.
About
Huron Consulting Group
Huron
Consulting Group helps clients effectively address complex challenges that
arise
in litigation, disputes, investigations, regulatory compliance, procurement,
financial distress, and other sources of significant conflict or change.
The
Company also helps clients deliver superior customer and capital market
performance through integrated strategic, operational, and organizational
change. Huron provides services to a wide variety of both financially sound
and
distressed organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, medium-sized
businesses, leading academic institutions, healthcare organizations, and
the law
firms that represent these various organizations. Learn more at www.huronconsultinggroup.com.
Statements
in this press release, which are not historical in nature and concern Huron
Consulting Group’s current expectations about the company’s reported results for
2006 and future results in 2006 are "forward-looking" statements as defined
in
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are identified
by
words such as “may,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,”
“estimates,” or “continue.” These forward-looking statements reflect our current
expectation about our future results, performance or achievements, including
without limitation, that our business continues to grow at the current
expectations with respect to, among other factors, utilization and billing
rates
and number of consultants; that we are able to expand our service offerings
through our existing consultants and new hires; and that existing market
conditions do not change from current expectations. These statements involve
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual
results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any
future
results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these
forward-looking statements. Therefore you should not place undue reliance
on
these forward-looking statements. Please see “Risk Factors” in
our Form 10-K
and
in other documents we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission for
a
complete description of the material risks we face.
Media
Contact:
Jennifer
Frost Hennagir
312-880-3260
jfrost-hennagir@huronconsultinggroup.com
Investor
Contact:
Gary
L.
Burge, Chief Financial Officer
312-583-8722
garyburge@huronconsultinggroup.com
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