News

Diebold votes yes to acquire voting company

March 17, 2002

NORTH CANTON, Ohio and MCKINNEY, Texas - Voting technology company Global Election Systems Inc. (Amex: GLE; Toronto: GSM) and ATM manufacturer Diebold Inc. (NYSE: DBD), have finalized the terms of Global's acquisition, first announced June 21.

The purchase, priced at about $26 million in cash and stock, will offer Diebold a new worldwide market for touchscreen and optical voting machines.

Procomp Amazonia Industria Eletronica, a Brazilian company purchased by Diebold in October 1999, sold 186,800 polling terminals and accessories, software development, installation, training, logistics and service to Brazil's Tribunal Superior Eleitoral in 2000. The order, valued at $105.5 million, was the largest contract in Diebold's history.

A jointly issued news release stated that under the purchase agreement, Diebold will acquire all outstanding Global shares at $1.135 per share. Global currently has 23.1 million fully diluted shares outstanding. The buyout is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2001, pending Global shareholder and regulatory approval.

As part of the purchase agreement, Diebold is loaning Global $5 million in interim financing. Diebold has an option to convert the loan to shares of Global common stock.

Under a previous contract, Diebold is manufacturing more than 500 AccuVote-TS touchscreen voting terminals for Global.

Diebold expects that the purchase will not affect profits for 2001 and will add to 2002 profits. In a previous news release, Diebold estimated the U.S. voting marketplace to generate $1.5 to $2 billion in hardware revenue during the next four to five years.

More than 850 voting jurisdictions in North America use AccuVote (optical scan) or AccuVote-TS (touchscreen) voting machines made by McKinney, Texas-based Global Election Systems. Global also makes VoteRemote, a high speed automated absentee ballot printing and processing system.

In addition to ATMs, North Canton, Ohio-based Diebold makes other self-service machines, card readers, security equipment, and software.