Cambridge UK — 18 November, 2005 - nCipher plc (LSE: NCH), a leading provider of cryptographic IT security solutions, announces that at the Extraordinary General Meeting of nCipher plc ('the EGM') held at 12 noon today, Shareholders passed the proposed resolution approving the acquisition of Abridean (US) Inc.
Abridean is a provider of user management and provisioning solutions that enable businesses to manage user identities and entitlements in a highly flexible and auditable way, helping to address the spiraling costs of managing users and the ever-increasing burden of regulatory and legislative compliance.
Completion of the acquisition of a majority of the stock of Abridean (US) Inc is anticipated to take place during the week of 21 November 2005 subject to the satisfaction of a number of standard conditions to closing.
"The Board and management of nCipher are delighted at this opportunity to be able to continue to execute our strategy to strengthen and expand nCipher's market leadership," said Alex van Someren, Chief Executive Officer, nCipher plc. "When completed, the acquisition of Abridean will enable nCipher to enter the large and rapidly-expanding market for identity management, and to explore further opportunities to exploit our unique expertise to create well-differentiated and professionally delivered security systems."
"Our customers increasingly recognize the need to manage the rights to access sensitive information within their enterprises", he continued. "This trend will force organisations to deploy the cryptographic security techniques which are nCipher’s area of expertise much more widely, and user management and provisioning systems such as Abridean's provide the natural focal point for administering this more complex security environment. By bringing together the two powerful technologies of cryptography and user management, nCipher and Abridean will establish a strongly differentiated position in this emerging market. In addition, Abridean brings expertise in delivering enterprise-grade professional services, an essential element of nCipher's strategy for delivering a broader portfolio of security solutions to its customers."
"Abridean are particularly excited at the prospect of forming part of the nCipher group" says Sean Sears, Chief Executive Officer, Abridean. "We have a shared vision and highly complementary skills and resources that will enable us jointly address the emerging security needs of our combined customer base."
About nCipher
nCipher is a leading provider of cryptographic security, enabling our customers to meet the challenges of verifying identity, protecting data and complying with security regulations. nCipher's solutions provide a unified approach to cryptographic management providing strict access controls and high assurance trusted processing, overcoming traditional issues of scalability, performance and weak platform security. The world's leading organizations work with nCipher to protect security critical systems such as web site infrastructure, online banking and payment processing networks, PKI, web services, databases and digital rights management schemes.
nCipher is the winner of the Microsoft Security Solution of the Year award 2004. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:NCH) and is a member of the FTSE TechMARK index with offices in Cambridge, UK; Boston, Washington, Hamburg and Tokyo. For more information on nCipher visit www.ncipher.com