RWS And SDL Shareholders Approve Merger Plan As SDL Gets Navy Contract

(Alliance News) - RWS Holdings PLC on Monday said its shareholders have approved plans for a merger with SDL PLC.

At a meeting held on Friday, the overwhelming majority of votes cast by RWS shareholders were in favour of the combination. SDL shareholders also met on Friday and voted in favour of the transaction.

Back in August, the two unveiled plans for an all-share tie-up with a view of creating "the world's leading language services and technology group". Under the terms of the deal, SDL shareholders will be entitled to receive 1.2246 new RWS shares for each SDL share they own.

Shares in RWS were up 4.3% at 602.00 pence in London on Monday. SDL shares also were up 4.3%, at 730p.

Completion of the deal remains subject to the satisfaction or waiver of other conditions, including the court sanctioning the scheme.

Separately, SDL on Monday said it has secured a long-term contract to support the US Navy's rationalisation, reduction and centralisation strategy.

The contract will standardise the creation, management and delivery of all technical publications on the SDL Contenta Publishing Suite.

"The US Navy is incredibly complex organization, and standardizing and centralizing processes can have a huge impact on cost reduction," said Thomas Labarthe, chief revenue officer at SDL. "As a long-term partner of the US Navy we're proud to extend our relationship to where we're now reducing the total cost of ownership of technical data creation, management and distribution across the US Navy's entire surface and underwater fleet."

By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com

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