iSKY Completes Private Placement of Preferred Stock
2 March 2000
iSKY Completes Private Placement of Preferred Stock for $30 Million in First Quarter
COLUMBIA, Md.--March 2, 2000--Group of Companies, and Ingram Industries
Participate in Private Placement and
Work With iSKY on Strategic and Financial Partnerships
iSKY, the leading provider of real-time customer care, today announced that it has sold $30 million of preferred stock to five financial and strategic partners in the first quarter of 2000.
Internet Capital Group , a leading Internet holding company primarily engaged in managing and operating a network of business-to-business e-commerce companies, and GE Capital , a diversified financial services company, increased their early interests in iSKY by $6 million and $2 million, respectively; Gilbert Global, a leading global equity investment partnership, became a new investor with an investment of $17 million; and The Interpublic Group of Companies , one of the world's largest advertising and marketing services companies, and Ingram Industries, an investment and holding company that maintains quality service to the book publishing industry, made strategic investments of $4.5 million and $.5 million, respectively.
"The most recent investments give us additional flexibility in expanding our service offerings, partnerships and employee base to meet the changing customer care and relationship requirements of our growing Fortune 1000 and e-commerce client base" said Richard Hebert, CEO of iSKY.
iSKY intends to use the proceeds of this offering to support expanding technology initiatives, increased sales and marketing efforts and ongoing partnership and acquisition activities. The company's strategic relationship with Interpublic brings to iSKY an opportunity to form mutually beneficial business alliances with relevant Interpublic agencies and companies, which could bring to their clients iSKY's proprietary real-time customer care solutions. In addition to the equity investment made by Ingram Industries, iSKY and Ingram Fulfillment Partners will collaborate to provide e-commerce customer care and fulfillment services.
"iSKY was one of Internet Capital Group's earliest acquisitions and we are enthusiastic about extending our strategic and operational support of iSKY as the company expands its service offerings and customer focus to encompass fully the critical demands of its premier e-commerce customers," said Skip Maner, vice president of Internet Capital Group.
About iSKY
iSKY provides outsourced Internet customer care and relationship management to Fortune 1000 companies and e-businesses seeking to enhance their customers' service experiences. iSKY uses interactive one-to-one communications, supported by real-time, personalized data collection and management, to find, win, keep and grow profitable customer relationships. iSKY offers clients fully integrated, Web-enabled solutions for outsourced customer interactions through a variety of inbound and outbound media including real-time text chat, e-mail, voice over Internet protocol, telephone and facsimile. iSKY was founded in 1984 as Sky Alland and is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland. For more information, visit iSKY's web site at http://www.iSKY.com.