OpenText Announces Plans for New Worldwide Customer Briefing Center in Toronto; Expansion Plans for Waterloo
WATERLOO, Ontario, April 25, 2014 /CNW/ - Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Mark Barrenechea, President and CEO of OpenText™ (NASDAQ: OTEX, TSX: OTC), the global leader in Enterprise Information Management (EIM) and Canada's largest software company, announced today an agreement to create 1,200 jobs across the province over the next seven years, nearly doubling the Company's Canadian workforce.
"At OpenText, our employees are our most valuable assets, and our commitment today validates the strength of the technology talent pool in Ontario," said Barrenechea. "We are an Ontario-grown global company and we chose to invest here because of the highly educated workforce, our strong university partnerships in R&D, as well as the province's robust and innovative start-up communities."
OpenText and the Province of Ontario have signed a seven-year agreement that will see OpenText invest up to $2 billion in job creation. Under the terms of the agreement, OpenText will add up to 1,200 high tech jobs within the next seven years. The Province of Ontario will provide OpenText up to $120 million in support of the initiative.
"I am thrilled that OpenText, a made-in-Ontario success story, decided to carry out this expansion here," said Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario. "We are proud to partner with OpenText to help create good jobs in Ontario and build a brighter future for our province."
More than 30 percent of the jobs created will be in R&D and 10 percent will be for youth in the province, those 29 years old and under.
"Ontario's technology sector has established a tremendous momentum that has positioned the province front-and-centre as business leaders around the world make decisions about where to invest and grow," said Dr. Eric Hoskins, Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Employment. "OpenText's decision to invest and create jobs here in Ontario is a vote of confidence in our tech sector and in the talented people who help it thrive and grow. This is about advanced technology, but it's also about everyday people—ensuring families have stable employment and young people in school have prospects when they graduate."
In addition to expanding OpenText's footprint at its corporate headquarters in Waterloo and its Ottawa offices, the Company also announced the future site of its worldwide customer briefing centre and offices in the heart of downtown Toronto. OpenText Ontario offices include worldwide headquarters in Waterloo, operations in Richmond Hill, worldwide customer briefing center in Toronto (to open late summer), Ottawa, Peterborough, and Kingston for research and development. Nation-wide, offices include Montreal and Calgary.
"This initiative is about immediate and long-term job creation at OpenText, enabling our Canadian employees to compete on the world stage," said Barrenechea. "A strong OpenText means a stronger Ontario."
OpenText is deeply committed to supporting technology innovation and has undertaken a number of initiatives within the last six months intended to directly seed technology entrepreneurship and innovation in Canada:
- February 28, 2014: OpenText sponsors the Canadian Open Data Experience (CODE) national appathon;
- February 11, 2014: OpenText announces it is a founding partner in the Open Data Institute;
- January 21, 2014: OpenText announces it is the lead industry sponsor in a newly created $217 million VCAP 'fund of funds' that will invest in high-potential venture capital fund managers across Canada to seed innovation, along with the federal and provincial governments;
- January 21, 2014: OpenText announces it expects to close in the next six months with its financial partners, a $100 million OpenText Enterprise Applications Venture Fund (OTEAF) to infuse funding directly into creative app development;
- November 2013: OpenText announced its own AppWorks developer platform to dramatically accelerate the time to market for enterprise-grade applications. Entrepreneurs can get on board at: https://developer.opentext.com
Learn more about OpenText EIM:
About OpenText
OpenText provides Enterprise Information Management software that helps companies of all sizes and industries to manage, secure and leverage their unstructured business information, either in their data center or in the cloud. Nearly 100,000 companies already use OpenText solutions to unleash the power of their information. To learn more about OpenText (NASDAQ: OTEX; TSX: OTC), please visit: www.opentext.com.
Certain statements in this press release may contain words considered forward-looking statements or information under applicable securities laws. These statements are based on OpenText's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the operating environment, economies and markets in which the company operates. These statements are subject to important assumptions, risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, and the actual outcome may be materially different. OpenText's assumptions, although considered reasonable by the company at the date of this press release, may prove to be inaccurate and consequently its actual results could differ materially from the expectations set out herein. For additional information with respect to risks and other factors which could occur, see OpenText's Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other securities filings with the SEC and other securities regulators. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, OpenText disclaims any intention or obligations to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Copyright ©2014 Open Text Corporation. OpenText is a trademark or registered trademark of Open Text SA and/or Open Text ULC. The list of trademarks is not exhaustive of other trademarks, registered trademarks, product names, company names, brands and service names mentioned herein are property of Open Text SA or other respective owners. All rights reserved. For more information, visit: http://www.opentext.com/2/global/site-copyright.html_SKU.
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Further information: Kasey Holman, Vice President Corporate Communications, OpenText, +1 415 500 9551, kholman@opentext.com; Deborah Rowe, Weber Shandwick, +1 416- 642-7951, drowe@webershandwick.com; Greg Secord, Vice President Investor Relations, OpenText, +1 519 888 7111 x 2408, gsecord@opentext.com