Atea acquires the Norwegian IT infrastructure company Umoe IKT

(Norway) Atea AS has entered into agreement to
acquire Umoe IKT AS with 384 employees and offices in
16 cities spread across the country.

Umoe IKT AS provides IT products and services within
IT infrastructure and has high competence especially
within areas such as telephony, Unified
Communication, videoconferencing, networks,
datacenter, outsourcing and IT-operations. The
company has 384 highly skilled employees located in
offices in 16 cities across Norway.

In 2009 the acquired company reported revenue of MNOK
973 and lost MNOK 28.1 on EBITDA. The company has
since been through a major restructuring including a
reduction in the number of employees, which has
reduced the operational costs considerably. Atea is
planning to round off the already initiated
restructuring initiatives but sees no need for any
further restructuring initiatives.

The acquired company is expected to deliver revenue
of MNOK 850-900 in 2011, and will be able to achieve
an EBITDA margin of approximately 5-6% post
integration.

Atea and Umoe IKT have offices in 11 of the same
cities and synergies on rental costs are expected by
co-locating to the same offices. Synergies are
further expected within purchases and administration.

This is a strategically important acquisition for
Atea in Norway as it will add strong competencies to
the current organization. Furthermore it will extend
the geographical presence of Atea in Norway as Umoe
IKT has offices in Steinkjer, Fredrikstad, Førde,
Tønsberg and Drammen where Atea is not present today.

The company's current ownership in Umoe iTet AS, Umoe
Consulting AS and Making Waves AS is transferred to
Umoe AS before closing of the transaction and is
therefore not a part of the future combined company.

Atea has acquired 100% of the shares from Umoe AS.
The purchase price (equity value) for 100% of the
shares in Umoe IKT is 4.0 million shares in Atea ASA
corresponding to an enterprise value of MNOK 154.8
(based on a share price of NOK 51.0). Atea currently
holds 1.78 million of its own shares and these will
be paid on closing. Payment of the remaining 2.22
million shares is based on a forward agreement, under
which Atea on closing pays to Umoe AS a cash amount
of MNOK 113.2. An amount equal to this plus interest
will be paid to Atea by May 26, 2011, as
consideration for the 2.22 million shares. The board
of directors of Atea ASA will propose to the annual
general meeting scheduled April 28, 2011, to issue
the 2.22 million shares.

The acquisition is subject to approval of the
Norwegian competition authorities and is expected to
have effect as of December 21, 2010.



For further information, please contact:
Claus Hougesen, CEO Atea ASA, mobile +45 3078 1200
Rune Falstad, CFO Atea ASA, mobile +47 906 14 482
Steinar Sønsteby, Managing Director, Atea AS, mobile
+47 930 55 655


About Atea
Atea is the leading Nordic and Baltic supplier of IT
infrastructure with approximately 4800 employees.
Atea is present in 73 cities in Norway, Sweden,
Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Atea
delivers IT products from leading vendors and assists
its customers with specialist competencies within IT
infrastructure services. Atea has annual revenue of
approximately NOK 15 billion and is listed on Oslo
Stock Exchange. [http://www.atea.com]