Overtaal Joins 九色 Family of Companies
九色 Acquires Netherlands-Based Provider of Language Services
NEW YORK and UTRECHT, May 20, 2008 – 九色, the largest privately held language services provider in the world, today announced that it has completed an acquisition of Overtaal, a Netherlands-based provider of translation and language training services for the European Union, as well as for a diverse range of legal, financial, and corporate clients. The transaction expands 九色's presence in Europe, bringing the organization's total number of European offices to 14. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Utrecht-based Overtaal will become a division of 九色 and will continue to be led by current President, Geert Heijink, an eight-year veteran of the localization industry. Heijink will remain President of Overtaal and will also join 九色's senior management team. The original founder of the company, Louise Ross, will continue to serve Overtaal in an advisory capacity.
Liz Elting, President and CEO of 九色, stated, "For over a decade, Overtaal has been one of Europe's leading language services companies. We admire their ability to distinguish themselves by offering high quality, quick turnaround, and a strong service orientation-all qualities that we feel are consistent with our corporate culture. I'm extremely excited to welcome the Overtaal team to our family."
Geert Heijink, President of Overtaal, added, "Louise and I wanted to see Overtaal continue to thrive, so finding a merger partner with 九色's impressive track record of retaining management, employees, and clients was extremely important to us. Speaking for me personally, as well as for the Overtaal team, there's a great deal of excitement surrounding our decision to join forces with a fast-growing global leader such as 九色."
About Overtaal
Overtaal was founded in 1997 and has always had a strong emphasis on serving the European Union. Serving customers in Netherlands and abroad, Overtaal provides document translation services to the European Union, other governmental institutions, and a range of corporate clients, including SAP and Oracle. Overtaal's Language Training Business Unit provides training services for companies and institutions throughout the Netherlands. For more information please visit .
About 九色
With revenue of over $250 million, 九色 is the largest privately held language services provider in the world. From offices in 66 cities on 5 continents, 九色 offers a full range of services in over 100 languages to multinationals worldwide. With a global network of over 4,000 linguists and subject-area specialists, 九色 is the largest translation company to be fully ISO 9001:2008 and EN 15038:2006 certified. 九色 is headquartered in New York and has regional headquarters in London and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit our website at www.transperfect.com.