Aimia Acquires Excellence in Motivation

MONTREAL and DAYTON, Ohio, Aug. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Aimia (TSX: AIM), a global leader in loyalty management headquartered in Montreal, Canada, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to purchase Excellence In Motivation Inc. (EIM), a privately-owned U.S.-based full-service performance improvement and business loyalty solutions provider, for approximately US $28 million. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close by the end of September 2012. The acquisition will be financed with cash on hand. 

The acquisition is part of Aimia's global growth strategy, which includes investing in opportunities that complement its business, accelerating its presence in the U.S. market. The transaction will strengthen Aimia's presence in key vertical markets, including automotive, healthcare, pharmaceutical, high tech and telecommunications. While building Aimia's geographic footprint coast to coast, the acquisition of EIM will increase the breadth and depth of Aimia's business loyalty product and client portfolio. 

"EIM is a great addition to the Aimia family as we continue to look for opportunities to increase our presence in the U.S. market," said Rupert Duchesne, Group Chief Executive of Aimia. "The acquisition complements our Business Loyalty division in the U.S. and offers opportunities for organizational growth and increased market share."

Founded in 1993, EIM is a leading performance improvement company aimed at positively changing behaviors of employees, channel partners and customers. Originally conceived as a traditional full service performance company, EIM was an early innovator of web-based solutions for clients. Today, EIM utilizes cutting-edge technology solutions to help clients maximize productivity, reduce costs and increase employee engagement. EIM also specializes in sales and channel partner programs that have grown revenues and increased market share for its clients. EIM has over 200 employees based in offices in Dayton, OH and Los Angeles, CA with sales presence across the U.S.

"By joining the Aimia family, our clients will benefit from an expanded full suite of loyalty solution capabilities and increased sector-specific loyalty marketing expertise," said EIM President and CEO, Bob Miller. "We can also leverage Aimia's global footprint and capabilities to help our clients execute on a global scale. Together, Aimia and EIM will enable our corporate clients to engage employees, energize channels, and ultimately build loyalty among customers."

The acquisition further advances Aimia's position as a leading full suite loyalty management company delivering world-class channel, employee and customer solutions across all vertical industries, geographies and channels for consumer and business-to-business brands.

In connection with this transaction, CIBC acted as a financial advisor to Aimia and Bentley Associates acted as a financial advisor to EIM.

About Aimia
Aimia Inc. ("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 U.S.-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 3,400 employees in more than 20 countries around the world. For more information about Aimia, please visit www.aimia.com. Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/aimiainc.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are identified by the use of terms and phrases such as "anticipate", "believe", "could", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "plan", "predict", "project", "will", "would", and similar terms and phrases, including references to assumptions. Such statements may involve but are not limited to comments with respect to Aimia's and EIM's strategies, expectations, planned operations, future actions, anticipated financial performance and business prospects.Forward-looking statements, by their nature, are based on assumptions and are subject to important risks and uncertainties. Any forecasts or forward-looking predictions or statements cannot be relied upon due to, amongst other things, changing external events and general uncertainties of the business and its corporate structure. Results indicated in forward-looking statements may differ materially from actual results for a number of reasons, including without limitation, dependency on top accumulation partners and clients, conflicts of interest, greater than expected redemptions for rewards, regulatory matters, retail market/economic conditions, industry competition, Air Canada liquidity issues, Air Canada or travel industry disruptions, airline industry changes and increased airline costs, supply and capacity costs, unfunded future redemption costs, failure to safeguard databases and consumer privacy, changes to coalition loyalty programs, seasonal nature of the business, other factors and prior performance, foreign operations, legal proceedings, reliance on key personnel, labour relations, pension liability, technological disruptions and inability to use third party software, failure to protect intellectual property rights, interest rate and currency fluctuations, leverage and restrictive covenants in current and future indebtedness, uncertainty of dividend payments, managing growth, credit ratings, as well as the other factors identified in this news release and throughout Aimia's public disclosure record on file with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities.. Material factors and assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a projection or forecast are also set out throughout this document. We believe that the expectations represented by our forward-looking statements are reasonable, yet there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. The purpose of the forward-looking statements is to provide the reader with a description of management's expectations regarding the matters described in this news release and may not be appropriate for other purposes. The forward-looking statements contained herein represent Aimia's expectations as of August 28, 2012, and are subject to change after such date. However, Aimia disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities regulations.

SOURCE Aimia

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