Vertafore, Inc., a provider of software and services to the insurance industry, announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Sircon Corporation. Sircon serves the needs of the insurance market by connecting carriers, agencies and brokers, agents, education providers, and state regulators through a suite of online services that allows companies to manage compliance and producer information and helps agents get licensed and appointed faster.

"As a provider of producer lifecycle management solutions for the insurance industry, Sircon benefits the entire distribution chain by streamlining and expediting the producer license and contracting process, decreasing costs and increasing revenue by allowing producers to begin to sell sooner," says Euan Menzies, president and CEO of Vertafore. "Our acquisition of Sircon will further expand Vertafore's solutions to help companies and individual producers in the insurance industry keep track of requirements needed to sell insurance in all 50 states. Sircon fits perfectly with our mission of improving channel productivity, and we believe Sircon's offering will be valuable for our broker and carrier customers."Sircon provides an industry-wide solution to automate licensing and compliance requirements. Serving the producer management needs of both the insurance industry and state government regulators, the company offers a suite of integrated, end-to-end insurance compliance products and services.

"Since both Sircon and Vertafore are focused on solving business needs across the insurance marketplace, we feel this is an extremely positive move for us and the industry as a whole," says Bob Nero, president and CEO of Sircon. "Sircon complements Vertafore's current solutions, and its strong presence in the agency and broker markets will drive producer adoption, which will in turn be especially valuable for carriers. I believe that the acquisition will result in significant synergies that will expand the services we can provide to our customers and accelerate Sircon and Vertafore's growth."

The acquisition is expected to close prior to July 30, 2008, subject to customary closing conditions.