Schlumberger Ltd. is acquiring a majority interest in ConvergentGroup Corp., a digital company offering companies Internetsolutions, for $276 million. The merger agreement, which givesSchlumberger 71.7% of Convergent, will result in a new entity,Convergent Holding Corp., and will give Schlumberger a stake in thegrowing global digital economy.

New York-based Schlumberger is the world’s number two oilfieldservices company, and the acquisition of Convergent will improveits stake in the utility sector. Convergent, based in Denver,offers consulting, software engineering, systems integration andproject management services to enable utility and governmentclients to integrate data.

Convergent’s current executive management team and an affiliateof its largest client, Cinergy Corp., will own the remaining 28% ofthe new company. Schlumberger’s offering price of $8 per share is69% higher than Convergent’s closing price Oct. 13 on NASDAQ for$4.72. About 43.4 million shares of Convergent are outstanding.Glenn E. Montgomery will remain Convergent’s CEO.

Schlumberger said that the acquisition would add “slightly” toits 2001 earnings from operations. The transaction is not expectedto affect Schlumberger’s 2001 net income and earnings per share.Analysts expect Schlumberger’s earnings to be $1.25 a share for2000 and $1.94 for 2001. Last year, the company reported net incomeof 65 cents a share with net income of $366.7 million.

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