Hearst Acquires 80% Stake in Kubra Data Transfer

Hearst said that it has acquired an 80 percent stake in Kubra Data Transfer Ltd.

In its release, the Company said that President & CEO Steven R. Swartz and Kubra President & CEO Rick Watkin made the joint announcement.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Kubra manages solutions for more than 500 clients, interacting with 50 million customer relationships with more than $350 billion in annual payments. It serves three of the five largest U.S. utility companies and two of the top 10 insurance companies.

Kubra said that it will operate as an independent unit of Hearst Magazines, and will work closely with CDS Global, another independent Hearst company, based in Des Moines, Iowa. Watkin will report to Hearst Magazines President David Carey.

"As the consumer shift to electronic payment becomes more rapid, companies offering fully integrated billing and payment services are in high demand," Swartz said. "KUBRA is poised for major growth with its strong presence in the utility, insurance, government, financial services and healthcare industries. After exhaustive industry research, we believe Kubra's unparalleled technology is extremely well positioned to positively influence the shift from paper to digital interactions."

"The outsourced integrated bill payment and presentment services marketplace continues to see major growth, with companies spending over $6 billion per year with third-party providers," Watkin said. "We look forward to working with Hearst to continue to grow our businesses. The strength of our technology, the voluminous amount of data that we process, provides Kubra a unique opportunity to leverage the intelligence of the data in order to deliver rich and meaningful customer interactions for all our clients."

Wells Fargo Securities advised Hearst and Financial Technology Partners served as an advisor to Kubra.

Kubra provides customer interaction management solutions to utility, insurance, government, financial services, healthcare and communication companies across North America. Our portfolio of integrated multi-channel outsource solutions include document print and

Hearst is a diversified media and information company.

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