Asnef-Equifax Acquires Leading Spanish Commercial Credit Firm

ATLANTA and MADRID, Spain, July 24, 1997-- Equifax Inc. and ASNEF-Equifax Servicios de Informacion de Credito, S.L., a joint venture firm established three years ago to provide consumer and commercial financial information in Spain, today announced the acquisition of Spain's Group Incresa, which includes one of the country's largest commercial credit information companies.

Equifax now provides commercial credit information services to businesses in North America, the United Kingdom, Spain, Argentina and Chile.

The acquisition agreement covers the four companies that comprise Group Incresa: Informacion Tecnica del Credito, S.A. (INCRESA); Via Ejecutiva, S.A.; Dicodi, S.A., and Seido, S.A. Financial details of the transaction were not released. The privately held Group Incresa reported total 1996 revenues of $15 million (at current exchange rates).

Once consummated, INCRESA will be merged with Infocor, another ASNEF-Equifax division that provides commercial credit information. At that point, the company will be one of Spain's leading commercial credit information companies. "With international expansion a key component of Equifax's rapid growth, Equifax is changing the shape of global commerce," said Thomas F. Chapman, Equifax executive vice president who leads the financial services business. "We have several important initiatives now underway in Europe, Latin America and Asia / Pacific. The acquisition of Group Incresa exemplifies our leadership position in international commercial credit information."

Founded 25 years ago, INCRESA is generally acknowledged to be one of the top two commercial credit information companies in Spain. Of the other Group Incresa companies, Dicodi operates in the directory publishing business; Via Ejecutiva is a leader in the collections industry, and Seido is a key player in the court records database business.

Equifax entered Spain in 1994 when it joined ASNEF, the Spanish association of banks and finance companies, to establish a joint venture to provide consumer financial information. Equifax holds a 49% interest in the venture, which operates as Spain's pre-eminent source of consumer financial information .

In 1995, Equifax, ASNEF-Equifax and the Portuguese banking association (ASFAC) started a financial information services company in Portugal with Equifax and ASNEF-Equifax holding a 75% interest and ASFAC holding the remaining 25%. That company was the first to establish a consumer credit information company in Portugal. In 1996, ASNEF-Equifax established Infocor in Spain to enter the commercial credit reporting market in that country.

The merger of INCRESA with Infocor "creates a unique product offering in Spain to complement the other growing Equifax commercial credit information companies throughout the world," said Miguel Rueda, Equifax Area Managing Director, Southern Europe.

Equifax is a world leader in providing financial information and processing solutions, with global operations in consumer and commercial credit information services, payment services, software, modeling, analytics and consulting and direct-to-consumer services. The company serves many industries including banking, finance, retail, telecommunications, utilities and health care. Equifax (NYSE: EFX) was founded in 1899 in Atlanta and today has 14,000 employees around the world. It operates globally in 17 countries, with sales in 40 countries.