Rancho Cordova, Calif.'s Hansen Acquires Spear Technologies Inc. (6138)

Addition of Leading Provider of Public Transit & Rail Asset Management Solutions Extends Hansen's State & Local Government Footprint

Hansen Information Technologies has announced the acquisition of San Francisco-based Spear Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of asset management solutions for the public transit and rail market.

Today, Spear solutions support the maintenance activities at four of the ten largest public transit agencies in the United States, including New York City Transit, Los Angeles County MTA, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, and San Francisco Municipal Railway. The company's products also support the maintenance activities at three of the five largest bus companies serving central London.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but acquisition financing was provided by existing investors, led by San Francisco-based Golden Gate Capital, a $2.6 billion private equity fund.

"The acquisition of Spear Technologies is consistent with our strategy of building a suite of scalable Microsoft .NET business applications that serve the government enterprise," said Chuck Hansen, Chairman and CEO of Hansen. "Given the asset-intensive nature of government, with fixed assets often representing over 70% of total assets, Spear enhances Hansen's position as the de facto standard for the management and valuation of public sector assets. The addition of Spear to our portfolio expands Hansen's ability to integrate, streamline, and manage the design, permitting, construction, operation, maintenance, rehabilitation, and revenue cycle of public sector assets."

Founded in 1997, Spear serves over 10,000 users worldwide and maintains transportation and rolling stock assets that move over 11 million people each day. Spear's ten largest U.S. public transit customers manage more than 17,000 bus and rail vehicles. Key benefits of Spear's solutions include increased asset utilization, enhanced workforce productivity, improved safety, minimized inventory levels, improved warranty collections, and increased return on assets.

"We are delighted to team with a visionary company like Hansen that is focused exclusively on delivering business solutions to the government market," stated Mike Thomas, Founder & Chairman of Spear. "Teaming with Hansen allows us to expand our presence in the mid-size public transit and international rail markets."

John Barbera, President & Chief Operating Officer of Spear added, "Hansen and Spear customers will benefit by standardizing on a single vendor that can deliver an end-to-end solution using a Microsoft .NET platform. Hansen's integrated suite of web-based Asset Management, Building Permit, CRM, Financials, GASB 34 Valuation, GIS, Transportation, and Web Portal solutions, provide a nature extension to our public transit and rail domain expertise."

In the United States, selected Spear customers include: Amtrak, Capital District Transit Authority, Charlotte Area Transit System, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Golden Gate Bridge Highway Transportation District, Hampton Roads Transit, Hudson Bergen Light Rail, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority, Kansas City Area Transportation, Authority, San Joaquin Regional Transit District, New York City Transit, Pierce Transit, Riverside Transit Authority, San Mateo County Transit, Port Authority Trans-Hudson, San Francisco Municipal Railway, and Utah Transit Authority.

Selected Spear international customers include: Arriva, Freightliner, Go-Ahead Group, Metroline, and Romanian State Railways.

"We are committed to protecting the significant investment in technology made by Spear customers," said Mark Watts, President of Hansen. "Customers of Spear will immediately gain access to our deep understanding of Microsoft .NET solutions and history of delivering a steady stream of customer-driven enhancements."

Spear immediately becomes Hansen's new Transit and Rail Business Unit, supporting its own dedicated global sales, product management, project delivery, application development, and training resources.

Customers and prospects will get their first glimpse of the Hansen-Spear product offering at the upcoming American Public Transit Association (APTA) Conference, April 30 - May 3 in Anaheim, CA. Attendees are encouraged to visit the Hansen/Spear Internet Cafe throughout the conference

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