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2 June 1999
Lend Lease Establishes Equity Stake in SITEL Corporation Transfers Regional Joint Venture Interest into SITEL Common Position
June 2, 1999-- Lend Lease Corporation Limited (AUS:LLC) and SITEL Corporation (NYSE:SWW) announced today that Lend Lease is establishing a 3.7 million share, or 5% stake in SITEL Corporation common stock. Lend Lease is exchanging its minority investment in SITEL Asia Pacific, a Lend Lease/SITEL Joint Venture, for approximately 2.2 million newly issued shares of SITEL Corporation common stock, in addition to purchasing approximately 1.5 million shares in the aggregate from Jim Lynch and Henk Kruithof for approximately $US4.5 million. Mr. Lynch and Mr. Kruithof are the Chairman and Executive Vice-Chairman, respectively, and the largest shareholders of SITEL Corporation. This transaction is not expected to have any significant impact on SITEL Corporation's future earnings per share. Lend Lease Corporation also is entering into a one year agreement to neither buy additional shares of SITEL Corporation common stock, nor sell those shares acquired in these transactions.
David Higgins, CEO of Lend Lease Corporation said, "We believe this transaction is positive for both Lend Lease and SITEL as it permits us to increase our stake in SITEL and transfer that investment to the global level. Given the increasing global reach and focus of Lend Lease, we felt that we wanted to participate in SITEL's global opportunity, rather than remaining invested solely in SITEL's Asia Pacific operations. We intend to continue to support SITEL in its growth plans.
Phil Clough, CEO of SITEL Corporation said, "Lend Lease has been a terrific partner to SITEL Corporation in the Asia Pacific region and we are extremely pleased that they will now be our partner on a much broader scale. We have gained substantial expertise with regard to project management disciplines and processes that are critical to us as we undertake larger and longer-term outsourcing contracts. A number of former Lend Lease managers have joined us and have been extremely helpful in some of our largest contract wins and implementations. We are most excited to see this partnership expand."
Lend Lease Corporation is an Australian based international real estate and financial services group which operates in Australia, the Pacific, Asia, Europe and North and South America. The Group also manages exposure to information technology and equity investments. Other Lend Lease IT involvements include joint ventures in IT Services (IBMGSA), Network Services (Advantra) and internet couponing (coolsavings.com).
SITEL Corporation is the leading global provider of outsourced Customer Relationship Management services. More than 19,000 SITEL employees worldwide represent many of the world's leading brand names. On behalf of its clients, SITEL finds, acquires and retains customers and helps build and enhance value from these customer relationships. Using the full spectrum of e-Media including the telephone, e-mail and the Internet – SITEL operates from over 70 customer contact centres, located around the globe in 18 countries, and offers service in more than 25 languages and dialects. Please visit the website at www.sitel.com for further information.
Lynette Mayne
Lend Lease IT+T Investments
Tel: 61 2 9236 6846
Fax 61 2 9236 6852
Carol Thompson
Lend Lease IT+T Investments
Tel 61 2 9236 6851
Fax 61 2 9236 6852media
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