For the four companies below (Air, AscendantOne, Thazar, Inspire), I
need any details and terms that can be found regarding the sale of
these companies in addition to what is noted below.

1. In May, Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO) announced it had
acquired Applied Insurance Research (AIR), a leading provider of
risk-assessment and management technology for all major natural
hazards in the U.S. and 40 countries worldwide. Terms were not
disclosed.

2. In June, ISO announced it had made "a significant equity
investment" in Nashua, NH-based software and services firm
AscendantOne. Terms of this deal were not disclosed.

3. In September, Skywire Software, a software development and EAI
products and services company, along with investment partner Tobat
Capital, announced it had acquired Thazar Solutions Corporation, a
leading provider of business intelligence and analytic applications
for the Property and Casualty (P & C) insurance industry. Skywire
Software manages Thazar as a separate operating unit, and Thazar's
products and services are available through Skywire Software's
Insurance Suite. Terms were not disclosed.

4. Last week (Nov. 15), CGI Group said it agreed to acquire most of
the assets of Inspire Insurance Solutions of Fort Worth and that it
intends to retain its 142 Fort Worth employees. CGI, based in
Montreal, disclosed in September that it was interested in Inspire,
which provides data processing, claims and underwriting services to
insurers. CGI said it will pay $5.4 million for those assets but will
not assume any of Inspire's liabilities. The sale is scheduled to
close Nov. 29. A CGI spokeswoman said the bankruptcy court has
approved the acquisition; she said Inspire has 265 employees in five
locations, and CGI will retain all employees and locations.

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Request for Question Clarification by vitalmed-ga on 03 Dec 2002 15:59 PST

I do not think we will find terms. Will relevant articles be helpful?
I have a start on them.

vitalmed-ga

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Clarification of Question by executivehotline-ga on 03 Dec 2002 19:06 PST

Define 'relevant'....Articles will be helpful IF they shed light upon
what was paid for the companies, or what percent stake was obtained in
the companies, or anything else that would help establish or help one
make an educated guess as to what was paid for the companies. Is that
sufficient clarification? If not, please ask again.

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Request for Question Clarification by vitalmed-ga on 03 Dec 2002 19:52 PST

Please see my comment below with excerpts from an article that I think
is relevant. Some aspects are reflected in qualitative terms regarding
the deal that was then imminent. I think your sources for this and
mine are essentially the same, and not much regarding terms has shown
up at this point in my search compared to what you seem to have.

vitalmed-ga

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Clarification of Question by executivehotline-ga on 10 Dec 2002 16:41 PST

I found plenty on INSpire and some commentary on the others. Tell me
what was paid for THAZAR SOLUTIONS and you claim the whole bounty.

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Request for Question Clarification by vitalmed-ga on 11 Dec 2002 13:36 PST

Dear executivehotline,

The information that my research yields regarding the Thazar Solutions
transaction is a brief description of the deal terms published in the
September 17, 2002 PR Newswire along with an article. The September
30, 2002 issue of Forbes magazine has another pertinent article on
page 334. The investors have said that it was an asset acquisition, so
no cash amount was involved. The key asset is noted in the article,
but no further information about the deals is  available to the
public. Would paraphrasing these articles be of use to you?

vitalmed-ga

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Clarification of Question by executivehotline-ga on 12 Dec 2002 06:01 PST

No, I already have the 2 items you're referring to. Thanks.

Following are excerpts relevant to the CGI Group acquisition of
Inspire Insurance Solutions from the National Underwriter Property &
Casualty , Volume: 106 , Number: 39 , Page: 18(2) , September 30, 2002

According to Eileen Murphy, director of media relations for CGI, the
"due diligence phase" of the sales process will continue until
"mid-November to December." During that period, she noted, "we will be
assessing everything." …
. . .Asked about possible staff reductions should the sale go through,
Ms. Murphy stated, "At this point, we don't know." She said it was
"too early to answer questions" about issues like operational
redundancies and executives in charge of the purchased business
operations.
"CGI is getting INSpire cheap," commented Judy Johnson, vice president
of insurance information strategies for the Stamford, Conn.-based Meta
Group, a research organization. "What they're trying to do is increase
their penetration in North America and get a piece of the business
process outsourcing pie." In doing so, she added, CGI would be
competing with companies such as EDS and Computer Sciences Corp.
"(CGI gets) intellectual property and customers, and they get some
expertise on how to run business process outsourcing for specific
business functions. They get it very cheaply by buying INSpire," Ms.
Johnson observed.
"I am not confident that it will work," said Ms. Johnson of the
anticipated sale and takeover of business functions, She pointed out
that INSpire customers are on the "low end of the mid-tier market,"
while "CGI is looking to play into the $600 million-and-above market.
It may be a mismatch between what INSpire has to offer and CGI's
expectation. But the price is right and it's not like CGI is going to
break the bank doing this."
If the reorganization plan is approved, INSpire's existing common
stock will be canceled on the effective date, the company said. Under
the plan, any money the company receives (and remaining assets, if
any) will be transferred to a trust. Cash proceeds from the trust will
be used to satisfy claims of the company. Once creditors are paid and
expenses of implementing the reorganization are satisfied, any
remaining cash will be divided pro rata to shareholders, according to
shares of common stock held as of the effective date.
"At this time," said the INSpire announcement, "the company is unable
to determine whether there will be any remaining cash to distribute to
shareholders….