Equifax Sells Health Administrative Services

Remaining Health Information Interests Also Will Be Divested

ATLANTA, November 7, 1996 -- Equifax today announced it has signed a definitive agreement with Centra Benefit Services Inc. for the sale of its subsidiary Equifax Health Administrative Services and that it intends to divest all of its remaining business interests in the Health Information Services Group.

Centra Benefit Services is a privately held company providing health benefit management services nationally to Fortune 1000 companies and state governments. Its operating headquarters is in Dallas. Equifax Health Administrative Services also helps employers with the administrative tasks and decision support necessary to manage their health plans and control cost in the indemnity and managed-care settings.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter.

Equifax President and CEO Daniel W. McGlaughlin also announced the corporation was exiting the health information business and evaluating divestment alternatives based on a reevaluation of the group's alignment with Equifax's strategic priorities.

"We entered the health information field because of the industry's need for automation solutions to contain health costs and improve the quality of care. But our strategy included rapid and strategic growth through acquisitions," said McGlaughlin.

"Our latest assessment of the health industry has convinced us the capital demands for the new acquisitions necessary to compete in the marketplace have grown to a point of potentially interfering with other very ambitious plans we have for our core businesses," he continued.

"We must acknowledge the health information environment has changed and so, too, must Equifax change. It was the right move to enter the market when we did. It's the right move to exit it now. We are seeking strategic buyers to protect the long-term interests of these businesses, their respective employees and customers."

The decision to exit the health information sector does not mean Equifax is ending its other ties to the health industry, McGlaughlin continued. Equifax's Financial Services Group and Insurance Services Group will continue to serve a wide variety of health industry customers, and Insurance Services units like Osborn Laboratories certainly are not affected.

The key remaining business units that are affected include Equifax Health Analytical Services, which provides physician profiling and medical claims audit systems, and the Equifax Medical Credentials Verification Service, a database service for hospitals and managed-care organizations to verify physician credentials. In October, Equifax sold its Health EDI Services business to National Data Corp (NYSE: NDC).

The Health Administrative Services unit being acquired by Centra Benefit Services is based in Dallas and was formed by Equifax's 1992 acquisition of Healthcare Economics Corp. from Halliburton Company; the 1993 acquisition of Newbridge Inc. Insurance Services, and the 1995 acquisition of Medical Review Systems, Inc.

Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) is the world leader in information solutions, providing 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-month period ended Sept. 30, 1996, exceeded $1.7 billion.