MONTREAL, Canada and SÃO PAULO, Brazil, Nov. 8, 2011 /CNW Telbec/ - Aimia (TSX: AIM), a global leader in loyalty management headquartered in Canada and Multiplus (BM&FBOVESPA: MPLU3), Brazil’s leading loyalty network, announced today that they have entered into an agreement pursuant to which they will join forces to create a new loyalty marketing services company in Brazil. The joint venture will focus on the design, development, management of, and value creation from data analytics and insight for third party loyalty and incentive programs. The company will be owned in equal share participations by each of the parties.
“We are thrilled to partner with Multiplus in this very exciting high growth market. Together, we believe we can go further by leveraging our combined strengths” said Rupert Duchesne, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aimia. “We identified Brazil as a strategic market for expansion and this joint venture marks an important milestone in the execution of our global strategy.”
“Since we launched our operations, our vision was to offer a unique selling proposition extending beyond our loyalty network and including marketing services such as loyalty program outsourcing and CRM.” said Eduardo Gouveia, President and CEO of Multiplus. “After evaluating several alternatives to realize our vision, it became clear that Aimia was by far the best choice of partner due to their proven expertise in loyalty marketing services. By combining our skills and capabilities, we will be in a position to offer our customers leading edge analytics and value-added marketing services.”
Aimia and Multiplus will be involved in the continuous support of the business with a focus to build, grow and transform the loyalty marketing services industry and may explore a broader relationship over time, should market opportunities present themselves. The formation of the joint venture is subject to customary regulatory approvals. At this time there is no anticipated transfer of assets by either party to the joint venture other than know-how and expertise, with the respective cash investment by each of the parties expected to be less than US$25M over a three year period.
Aimia and Multiplus will account for their respective interests in the joint venture under the equity method.
About Aimia
Groupe Aeroplan Inc., doing business as Aimia (“Aimia”), is a global leader in loyalty management. Aimia’s unique capabilities include proven expertise in delivering proprietary loyalty services, launching and managing coalition loyalty programs, creating value through loyalty analytics and driving innovation in the emerging digital and mobile spaces. Aimia owns and operates Aeroplan, Canada’s premier coalition loyalty program and Nectar, the United Kingdom’s largest coalition loyalty program. In addition, Aimia has majority equity positions in Air Miles Middle East and Nectar Italia as well as a minority position in Club Premier, Mexico’s leading coalition loyalty program and Cardlytics, a US-based private company operating in merchant-funded transaction-driven marketing for electronic banking.
Aimia is a Canadian public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: AIM) and has over 3,800 employees in more than 20 countries around the world. For more information about Aimia, please visit www.aimia.com.