Subject: Beilstein Information Announces new Ownership

From: "Yvonne Schickel" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 1998 19:04:21 +0100

PRESS RELEASE
(17th February, 1998)

Beilstein Informationssysteme GmbH
Yvonne Schickel (phone: +49-69-7917 410; e-mail: [email-masked])

For Immediate Release

Beilstein Informationssysteme Announces new Ownership and new Managing
Director

Frankfurt, Germany --- All shares of Beilstein Informationssysteme GmbH
(BIS) have been acquired by Elsevier Science from the previous owners,
Information Handling Services Group (IHS) and the Beilstein Institute (BI). 

With this acquisition, the ownership of BIS is no longer split between a
parent company and the Beilstein Institute: Elsevier Science is now the
sole owner. BIS has also entered into an exclusive licence with the
Beilstein Institute / Beilstein Chemiedaten und Software GmbH (CD&S) to
market and support the Beilstein Database which will be updated and
enhanced in the future by the Institute / CD&S. Another important result of
the acquisition is that all the legal disputes affecting BIS have been
settled, and there is no continuing litigation regarding the Beilstein
Database.

Under the new organization plan, BIS will be operated by MDL Information
Systems, Inc. (MDL) which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Elsevier Science.
BIS will continue to have its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, and the
staff of BIS will continue to service your needs. The BIS sales and service
organization will also continue its operation in the US, but the business
location will change from Englewood, CO, to San Leandro, CA.

Dr. Esther Allen has been appointed by MDL to the post of Managing Director
of Beilstein Informationssysteme GmbH. Dr. Allen, Vice President of
Business Development at MDL, and formerly the general manager of MDLs
Database Business Unit, brings a wealth of experience to the position. She
expressed enthusiasm about her new role and noted: "By bringing the
Beilstein products together with MDLs capabilities in software and
database development, we will provide scientists with the most
comprehensive commercial source of chemical information available. In the
future, they can expect much better integration of the information needed
to speed up their research processes and contribute strongly to their
decision making."

(CrossFire and NetFire are trademarks of Beilstein Information.
All other trademarks are the property of their holders.)

For complete information, please consult http://www.beilstein.com.