Equifax Acquires 100% of Chile's DICOM

ATLANTA and SANTIAGO, Chile, April 2, 1997 -- Equifax today announced it had increased its ownership of Chile's DICOM S.A. from 50 percent to 100 percent, taking full ownership of the information provider that already has led Equifax's expansion throughout much of Latin America.

The transaction ensures the acceleration of a global push by Equifax's Financial Services Group that already has seen Equifax enter six Latin American countries over the past three years.

"Equifax's future lies, in great measure, beyond the shores of the United States," said Thomas F. Chapman, Equifax executive vice president and designated president and COO. "We have moved from a standing start just six years ago to a position as a pre-eminent global provider of financial services information. Latin America has been a key part of that growth and will play an important role in our future, and DICOM will help lead the way."

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The assumption of control means that DICOM revenues for the first time will be included in Equifax's International Operations results. Prior to this point, the investment was unconsolidated. The transaction formally closed on March 27.

DICOM is the leading provider of credit and other financial information services in Chile and has operations in other parts of Latin America, including Peru, Colombia and El Salvador. Equifax and DICOM already have begun planning ventures in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Venezuela and those plans now will be accelerated.

Equifax also is operating in Mexico, where it opened a consumer credit information company last fall, and in Argentina through an investment partnership with Organizacion VERAZ in Buenos Aires. Equifax made its first investments in both VERAZ and DICOM in 1994 to launch its Latin American expansion.

"Our partnership with DICOM has proven to be one of the best our company has made since beginning our international expansion," commented Bill Phinney, vice president and area manager of Equifax Latin America, who is based at DICOM in Santiago. "The nation of Chile has one of the region's fastest-growing economies and provides an incredibly stable base as well as important expertise to support further expansion."

The decision to acquire all remaining shares in DICOM was an amicable one reached with the original investor-founders, "all of whom agreed it was time to push the company to a new level and that Equifax was the best to accomplish that," Phinney added.

DICOM will continue to be led by General Manager Marco Antonio Alvarez Mesa and his experienced management team. The firm will be identified as "An Equifax Company" and a new board of directors constituted. DICOM will report to Phinney as the head of Equifax Latin America.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) is the leading provider of information services that help businesses grant credit, authorize and process credit card and check transactions and insure lives and property. Established in 1899 in Atlanta, Equifax today employs 14,000 people throughout North and south America, the United Kingdom and continental Europe. Revenues for the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 1996, exceeded $1.8 billion.