March 12, 2024

Fortrea Assina Contrato Definitivo de Transferência das Unidades Endpoint Clinical e Patient Access para a Arsenal Capital Partners

A proposta da transferência das unidades Endpoint Clinical e Fortrea Patient Access agiliza ainda mais o foco estratégico da Fortrea como uma organização de pesquisa sob contrato

Ela cria as melhores soluções independentes de Randomização e Gestão de Fornecimento de Ensaios e Acesso do Paciente posicionadas para diferenciação e crescimento

DURHAM, N.C., March 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — A Fortrea (Nasdaq: FTRE) (a “Empresa”), uma organização líder global de pesquisa por contrato (CRO), anunciou hoje que assinou um contrato definitivo de transferência dos ativos relacionados ao seu segmento Enabling Services, ou seja, suas unidades Endpoint Clinical (“Endpoint”) e Fortrea Patient Access, para a Arsenal Capital Partners (“Arsenal”), uma empresa líder de private equity especializada na criação de empresas de saúde líderes de mercado e ricas em tecnologia.

Com a transferência dessas unidades, a Fortrea visa promover a estratégia de crescimento e soluções da Endpoint e da Fortrea Patient Access, posicionando-as para aumentar o investimento para acelerar o roteiro de tecnologia e aprimorar ainda mais as operações para apoiar as melhores soluções e entregas aos clientes. As outras unidades da Fortrea irão fortalecer seu foco nas fases de desenvolvimento clínico 1 a 4. A conclusão da transação está prevista para o segundo trimestre de 2024, estando sujeita às condições habituais de fechamento e aprovações regulatórias, bem como às partes que celebram certos serviços e contratos operacionais.

“Hoje é um marco significativo na jornada contínua da Fortrea, à medida que aprimoramos nosso foco em crescer organicamente como uma CRO pura, com flexibilidade financeira adicional”, disse o presidente e CEO da Fortrea, Tom Pike. “Depois de uma revisão estratégica de nossos negócios, concluímos que a transferência das unidades Endpoint e Fortrea Patient Access se alinha aos interesses dos nossos clientes. A Arsenal tem uma vasta experiência na criação de empresas que criam melhorias sistemáticas nos resultados de saúde, e estou confiante de que a Endpoint e a Fortrea Patient Access poderão fortalecer suas posições no mercado, cultivar talentos de primeira linha e investir em novas capacidades e recursos, ao mesmo tempo, oferecer soluções que melhoram a vida dos pacientes.”

“Estou muito entusiasmado com este próximo capítulo da Endpoint e a Fortrea Patient Access”, disse Sam Osman, presidente da Enabling Services da Fortrea, que atuará como CEO dessas empresas com a Arsenal. “Essas empresas estarão distintamente posicionadas para gerenciar efetivamente a jornada do paciente nos ensaios clínicos e na comercialização, impulsionando o acesso e a adesão do paciente às terapias aprovadas. Com a união da profunda perspicácia de investimento da Arsenal com a experiência operacional líder do setor, estou confiante de que as empresas Endpoint e Fortrea Patient Access estão bem posicionadas para o crescimento e a entrega de recursos aprimorados para pacientes e patrocinadores farmacêuticos. Quero dar continuidade ao impacto positivo no cuidado da saúde.”

“A Endpoint e a Fortrea Patient Access têm um histórico orgulhoso de décadas de liderança no mercado no apoio à pesquisa clínica e comercialização de terapias inovadoras. A Arsenal tem orgulho em criar organizações que melhoram significativamente os cuidados da saúde. Estamos entusiasmados com a parceria com a administração e os funcionários para acelerar o crescimento desses dois negócios”, disse Gene Gorbach, um Parceiro de Investimento da Arsenal.

Dimitris Agrafiotis, Ph.D., Diretor de Digital, Análise e IA da Arsenal, disse: “A Endpoint e a Fortrea Patient Access fornecem soluções essenciais que permitem a participação dos pacientes em ensaios clínicos e acesso a terapias. Tenho o prazer de apoiar a equipe talentosa da Endpoint e da Fortrea Patient Access. Juntos, aumentaremos ainda mais a sofisticação das capacidades tecnológicas que sustentam o compromisso dessas empresas em fornecer serviços da mais alta qualidade para a indústria farmacêutica.”

Endpoint Clinical
A Endpoint opera no mercado eClinical de alto crescimento como provedora líder de soluções de Randomização e Gerenciamento de Fornecimento de Ensaios (RTSM) para clientes biofarmacêuticos e CRO, com experiência no atendimento de ensaios clínicos complexos e em estágio avançado. Com mais de 15 anos, a Endpoint já apoiou com sucesso mais de 1.750 ensaios clínicos envolvendo 875.000 pacientes em 90 países e cultivou uma base de clientes de primeira linha e relacionamentos estratégicos de longa data.

Fortrea Patient Access
A Fortrea Patient Access é uma líder em escala no mercado de serviços de HUB e acesso do paciente, atendendo à indústria biofarmacêutica com suporte abrangente ao paciente, acesso ao produto, acessibilidade e soluções de adesão há mais de 30 anos. Avançando ainda mais com sua especializada farmácia não comercial recentemente expandida, a FortreaRx, para apoiar a distribuição aprimorada de produtos de cadeia fria e sem ambiente, a Fortrea Patient Access está comprometida em impulsionar os resultados dos pacientes e aprimorar a acessibilidade aos cuidados da saúde por meio da sua ampla experiência, oferecendo suporte a mais de 2,5 milhões de pacientes e mais de 100 marcas exclusivas para mais de 25 indicações de doenças.

Arsenal Capital Partners
A Arsenal Capital Partners é uma empresa líder em investimentos em patrimônio privado especializada na criação de empresas líderes de mercado em crescimento industrial e saúde. Desde a sua criação em 2000, o Arsenal levantou fundos de investimento de capital institucional com um total de mais de US$ 10 bilhões, concluiu mais de 290 aquisições de plataformas e complementos, e alcançou mais de 35 realizações. A empresa trabalha com equipes de gestão para criar empresas estrategicamente importantes com posições de liderança no mercado, alto crescimento e alto valor agregado. Para mais informação, visite www.arsenalcapital.com.

Consultores
Barclays está atuando como consultor financeiro exclusivo da Fortrea, e Smith Anderson como consultor jurídico. A Sidley Austin LLP atuou como consultora jurídica da Arsenal.

Chamada e Replay de Ganhos
A Fortrea discutirá o anúncio da transferência na sua teleconferência de resultados do quarto trimestre de 2023, que será realizada hoje às 9h ET. A conferência pode ser acessada no site Investor Relations da Fortrea (Relacionamento com o Investidor) ou no seguinte link earnings webcast (Webcast de ganhos). Para evitar possíveis atrasos, acesse pelo menos 10 minutos antes do início da chamada. Um replay da teleconferência ao vivo estará disponível logo após a conclusão do evento e acessível na seção events and presentationts (eventos e apresentações) do site da Fortrea. Uma apresentação de slides suplementar também estará disponível no site Investor Relations da Fortrea antes do início da chamada.

Sobre a Fortrea
A Fortrea (Nasdaq: FTRE) é fornecedora líder global de soluções para o desenvolvimento clínico e acesso ao paciente para a indústria de ciências da vida. Fazemos parcerias com grandes e emergentes empresas biofarmacêuticas, de biotecnologia, de dispositivos médicos e de diagnóstico para impulsionar a inovação na saúde que acelera terapias que mudam a vida dos pacientes. A Fortrea fornece gerenciamento de testes clínicos de fase I-IV, farmacologia clínica, serviços de consultoria, soluções de testes com tecnologia diferenciada e serviços pós-aprovação. As soluções da Fortrea utilizam suas três décadas de experiência abrangendo mais de 20 áreas terapêuticas, sua dedicação ao rigor científico, insights excepcionais e uma forte rede de pesquisadores. Nossa equipe talentosa e diversificada de aproximadamente 18.000 pessoas que trabalham em mais de 90 países é dimensionada para fornecer soluções focadas e ágeis para clientes de todo o mundo. Saiba mais sobre como a Fortrea está se tornando uma força transformadora de pipeline para paciente na Fortrea.com e siga-nos no LinkedIn e X (antigo Twitter) @Fortrea.

Advertência a Respeito de Declarações de Previsão

Este comunicado contém “declarações de previsão” de acordo com a definição do termo estabelecido na Seção 27A da Lei de Valores Mobiliários (Securities Act) e na Seção 21E da Lei de Mercados Mobiliários (Securities Exchange Act). As declarações de previsão, por sua natureza, abordam questões que são, em diferentes graus, incertas, como as declarações sobre os benefícios previstos da transação, incluindo o desempenho financeiro e operacional futuro, e o prazo previsto para a conclusão da transação. Neste contexto, as declarações de previsão geralmente abordam o desempenho futuro esperado e o desempenho financeiro e a condição financeira, e muitas vezes contêm palavras como “orientação”, “esperar”, “supor”, “antecipar”, “pretender”, “planejar”, “prever”, “acreditar”, “buscar”, “ver”, “irá”, “faria”, “alvo”, expressões semelhantes e variações ou negativos dessas palavras que se destinam a identificar declarações de previsão, embora nem todas as declarações de previsão contenham essas palavras de identificação. Os resultados reais podem diferir materialmente dessas declarações de previsão devido a uma série de fatores, incluindo, mas não se limitando a: satisfação das condições precedentes à consumação da transferência proposta da transação das unidades Endpoint Clinical e Fortrea Patient Access, incluindo a capacidade de garantir aprovações regulatórias e a capacidade da Empresa de concluir a transação em tempo hábil ou de alguma forma; a possibilidade de que a transação possa ser mais cara do que o previsto, inclusive como resultado de fatores ou eventos inesperados; a capacidade das partes de atender às expectativas em relação aos tratamentos contábeis e fiscais da transação proposta; e outros fatores descritos ocasionalmente nos documentos que a Empresa arquiva junto à SEC. Para uma discussão mais aprofundada dos riscos relacionados aos negócios da Empresa, consulte a Seção “Fatores de Risco” da Declaração de Registro da Empresa no Formulário 10, conforme arquivado na Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (a “SEC”), pois tais fatores podem ser alterados ou atualizados ocasionalmente nos registros periódicos e outros registros subsequentes da Empresa na SEC, acessíveis no site da SEC em www.sec.gov. Esses fatores não devem ser interpretados como exaustivos e devem ser lidos em conjunto com as outras declarações de advertência incluídas ou incorporadas por referência neste relatório e nos registros da Empresa na SEC. As declarações de previsão incluídas neste comunicado são válidas apenas a partir da presente data e não assumimos nenhuma obrigação de atualizar essas declarações de previsão para indicar eventos ou acontecimentos subsequentes.

Contatos da Fortrea:
Hima Inguva (Investidores) – 877-495-0816, hima.inguva@fortrea.com
Sue Zaranek (Mídia) – 919-943-5422, media@fortrea.com
Kate Dillon (Mídia) – 646-818-9115, kdillon@prosek.com

Contato da Arsenal:
Jackie Schofield, pro-Arsenal@prosek.com

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 9062251

March 12, 2024

Fortrea signe un accord définitif pour céder les activités Endpoint Clinical et Patient Access à Arsenal Capital Partners

Le projet de cession des activités Endpoint Clinical et Fortrea Patient Access permet à Fortrea de se recentrer sur son cœur de métier stratégique d’organisme de recherche contractuelle

Création de solutions autonomes de premier ordre pour la randomisation, la gestion de l’approvisionnement des essais et l’accès des patients, positionnées pour la différenciation et la croissance

DURHAM, État de Caroline du Nord, 12 mars 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Fortrea (Nasdaq : FTRE) (la « Société »), un organisme de recherche sous contrat (« ORC ») de premier plan au niveau mondial, a annoncé aujourd’hui la signature d’un accord définitif de cession des actifs liés à son segment Enabling Services, à savoir ses activités Endpoint Clinical (ci-après « Endpoint ») et Fortrea Patient Access, à Arsenal Capital Partners (« Arsenal »), une société de capital-investissement de premier plan spécialisée dans la création d’entreprises de soins de santé leaders sur le marché et à fort profil technologique.

En cédant ces activités, Fortrea vise à faire progresser la stratégie de croissance et les solutions Endpoint et Fortrea Patient Access, en les positionnant de sorte à attirer davantage d’investissements afin d’accélérer la feuille de route technologique et d’améliorer encore les opérations pour soutenir les meilleures solutions et prestations pour les clients. Les activités restantes de Fortrea se concentreront davantage sur les phases de développement clinique 1 à 4. La conclusion de la transaction est prévue pour le deuxième trimestre 2024, sous réserve des conditions de finalisation habituelles et des approbations réglementaires, ainsi que de la conclusion par les parties de certains accords de services et d’exploitation.

« Ce jour marque une étape importante dans l’histoire de Fortrea, à l’heure où nous renforçons nos efforts en vue de croître organiquement comme un ORC à part entière, avec une bien plus grande souplesse financière », a déclaré Tom Pike, président-directeur général de Fortrea. « Après avoir procédé à un examen stratégique de nos activités, la cession d’Endpoint et de Fortrea Patient Access est conforme aux intérêts de nos clients. Arsenal a une grande expérience dans la création d’entreprises qui améliorent systématiquement les résultats en matière de santé, et je suis convaincu qu’Endpoint et Fortrea Patient Access seront en mesure de renforcer leur position sur le marché, de faire s’épanouir et grandir des talents de premier plan et d’investir dans de nouvelles capacités et ressources, tout en proposant des solutions qui améliorent la vie des patients. »

« Je me réjouis de ce nouveau chapitre qui s’écrit pour Endpoint et Fortrea Patient Access », a déclaré Sam Osman, président d’Enabling Services chez Fortrea, qui occupera le poste de PDG de ces entreprises avec Arsenal. « Ces entreprises seront particulièrement bien placées pour gérer efficacement le parcours du patient tout au long de la durée des essais cliniques, et ce, jusqu’à la commercialisation, en favorisant l’accès et l’adhésion des patients aux thérapies approuvées. En combinant les connaissances approfondies d’Arsenal en matière d’investissement et l’expertise opérationnelle du secteur, je suis convaincu que les activités d’Endpoint et de Fortrea Patient Access sont bien positionnées pour la croissance et la fourniture de capacités augmentées pour les patients et les promoteurs pharmaceutiques. Je me réjouis de l’impact positif que nous continuerons à avoir sur les soins de santé. »

« Endpoint et Fortrea Patient Access sont fiers de leur palmarès de plusieurs décennies en matière de leader sur le marché dans le soutien à la recherche clinique et à la commercialisation de thérapies innovantes. Arsenal est fier de créer des organisations qui améliorent de manière significative les soins de santé. Nous sommes ravis de nous associer à la direction et aux employés pour accélérer la croissance de ces deux entreprises », a déclaré Gene Gorbach, associé investisseur d’Arsenal.

Dimitris Agrafiotis, titulaire d’un doctorat, directeur du numérique, de l’analytique et de l’IA chez Arsenal, a déclaré : « Endpoint et Fortrea Patient Access fournissent des solutions essentielles qui permettent la participation des patients aux essais cliniques et l’accès aux thérapies. Je suis ravi de soutenir la talentueuse équipe d’Endpoint et de Fortrea Patient Access. Ensemble, nous allons encore améliorer la sophistication des capacités technologiques qui sous-tendent l’engagement de ces entreprises à fournir des services de la plus haute qualité à l’industrie pharmaceutique. »

Endpoint Clinical
Endpoint Clinical opère sur le marché à forte croissance de l’« eClinique » en tant que fournisseur de premier plan de solutions de randomisation et de gestion de l’approvisionnement des essais (« RTSM ») pour les clients biopharmaceutiques et les ORC, avec une expertise dans les essais cliniques complexes et en phase avancée de développement. Depuis plus de 15 ans, Endpoint a réussi à soutenir efficacement plus de 1 750 essais cliniques impliquant 875 000 patients dans 90 pays, à cultiver une clientèle de premier ordre et à entretenir des relations stratégiques de longue date.

Fortrea Patient Access
Fortrea Patient Access est un leader du marché des services HUB et de l’accès aux patients. Depuis plus de 30 ans, il propose à l’industrie biopharmaceutique des solutions complètes en matière de soutien aux patients, d’accès aux produits, d’accessibilité financière et d’observance. En outre, grâce à l’expansion récente de sa pharmacie spécialisée non commerciale, FortreaRx, destinée à soutenir une distribution accrue des produits de la chaîne du froid et des produits gratuits à température ambiante, Fortrea Patient Access s’est engagée à améliorer les résultats pour les patients ainsi que l’accessibilité aux soins de santé, tout en soutenant actuellement plus de 2,5 millions de patients à travers plus de 100 marques uniques pour plus de 25 indications thérapeutiques.

Arsenal Capital Partners
Arsenal Capital Partners est une société de capital d’investissement privée de premier plan qui se spécialise dans la création d’entreprises industrielles de croissance et de soins de santé leaders sur le marché. Depuis sa création en 2000, Arsenal a levé des fonds d’investissement institutionnels d’un montant total de plus de 10 milliards de dollars, réalisé plus de 290 acquisitions de plateformes et d’actifs complémentaires, et plus de 35 cessions. La société travaille avec des équipes de gestion pour créer des entreprises d’importance stratégique avec des positions de leader sur le marché, une croissance élevée et une forte valeur ajoutée. Pour plus d’informations, rendez-vous sur www.arsenalcapital.com.

Conseillers
Barclays intervient en qualité de conseiller financier exclusif de Fortrea, et Smith Anderson comme son conseiller juridique. Sidley Austin LLP est intervenu en qualité de conseiller juridique d’Arsenal.

Conférence téléphonique de présentation des résultats et rediffusion
Fortrea discutera de l’annonce de la cession lors de sa conférence téléphonique sur les résultats du quatrième trimestre 2023, qui se tiendra aujourd’hui à 9 h, heure de l’Est. La conférence est accessible via le site Web des relations avec les investisseurs de Fortrea ou sur le lien redirigeant vers la webdiffusion des résultats. Pour éviter tout retard, veuillez vous inscrire au moins 10 minutes avant le début de l’appel. Une rediffusion de la conférence téléphonique en direct sera disponible peu après la fin de l’événement et accessible sur le site web de la Commission européenne, événements et présentations du site web de Fortrea U Un diaporama complémentaire sera également disponible sur le site Web des relations avec les investisseurs de Fortrea avant le début de la conférence téléphonique.

À propos de Fortrea
Fortrea (Nasdaq : FTRE) est l’un des principaux fournisseurs mondiaux de solutions de développement clinique et d’accès aux soins pour les patients dans le secteur des sciences de la vie. Fortrea s’associe à des sociétés établies et émergentes du domaine biopharmaceutique, de la biotechnologie des dispositifs médicaux et des diagnostics pour stimuler l’innovation en matière de santé, et accélérer la mise au point de traitements révolutionnaires pour les patients. Nous proposons des services de gestion d’essais cliniques de phase I à IV, de pharmacologie clinique, de services de consulting, d’essais différenciés axés sur des technologies habilitantes, et des services post-autorisation. Nos solutions s’appuient sur 30 ans d’expérience dans 20 domaines thérapeutiques, une passion pour la rigueur scientifique, des connaissances exceptionnelles et un solide réseau de centres de recherche. Notre équipe talentueuse et diversifiée d’environ 18 000 collaborateurs répartis sur plus de 90 pays est dimensionnée pour fournir des solutions ciblées et agiles à nos clients, partout dans le monde. Pour en savoir plus sur la manière dont Fortrea est un moteur d’influence du pipeline au patient, rendez-vous sur Fortrea.com et suivez-nous sur LinkedIn et X (anciennement Twitter) @Fortrea.

Mise en garde concernant les déclarations prospectives

Le présent communiqué de presse contient des « déclarations prospectives » au sens des lois fédérales sur les valeurs mobilières, notamment la Section 27A du Securities Act (la loi américaine sur les valeurs mobilières) et la Section 21E de l’Exchange Act (la loi américaine sur les Bourses de valeurs). Les déclarations prospectives traitent par nature de questions qui sont, à des degrés divers, incertaines, telles que les déclarations sur les avantages attendus de la transaction, y compris les performances financières et opérationnelles futures, ainsi que le calendrier prévu pour l’achèvement de la transaction. Dans ce contexte, les déclarations prospectives traitent souvent des performances commerciales et financières futures attendues et de la situation financière, et contiennent fréquemment des termes tels que « orientation », « s’attendre à », « supposer », « anticiper », « avoir l’intention », « planifier », « prévoir », « croire », « viser », « sera », « serait », « cible », des expressions similaires, ainsi que des variantes ou la forme négative de ces termes qui sont destinés à identifier les déclarations prospectives, bien que toutes les déclarations prospectives ne contiennent pas ces mots d’identification. Les résultats réels pourraient sensiblement différer de ces déclarations prospectives en raison d’un certain nombre de facteurs, y compris, mais sans s’y limiter : la satisfaction des conditions préalables à la réalisation de la transaction proposée pour la cession des activités Endpoint Clinical et Fortrea Patient Access, y compris la capacité à obtenir les autorisations réglementaires, ainsi que la capacité de la Société à réaliser la transaction dans les délais impartis ou à la réaliser en soi, la possibilité que la transaction soit plus coûteuse à réaliser que prévu, y compris en raison de facteurs ou d’événements inattendus, la capacité des parties à répondre aux attentes concernant les traitements comptables et fiscaux de la transaction proposée et d’autres facteurs décrits en tant que de besoin dans les documents que la Société dépose auprès de la Securities and Exchange Commission (« SEC »). Pour une analyse plus approfondie des risques liés à l’activité de la Société, voir la section « Facteurs de risque » de la Déclaration d’enregistrement de la Société sur le Formulaire 10, telle qu’elle a été déposée auprès de la SEC, ces facteurs pouvant être modifiés ou mis à jour en tant que de besoin dans les dépôts périodiques et autres de la Société introduits auprès de la SEC, qui sont accessibles sur le site Web de la SEC à l’adresse suivante : www.sec.gov. Ces facteurs ne doivent pas être considérés comme exhaustifs et doivent être lus conjointement avec les autres avertissements inclus ou incorporés par référence dans ce rapport et dans les documents déposés par la Société auprès de la SEC. Toutes les déclarations prospectives sont faites uniquement à la date du présent rapport et la Société ne s’engage pas, sauf si la loi l’exige, à mettre à jour ou à réviser les déclarations prospectives pour tenir compte d’événements ou de développements futurs.

Coordonnées de Fortrea :
Hima Inguva (Investisseurs) – 877-495-0816, hima.inguva@fortrea.com
Sue Zaranek (Médias) – 919-943-5422, media@fortrea.com
Kate Dillon (Médias) – 646-818-9115, kdillon@prosek.com

Contact Arsenal :
Jackie Schofield : pro-Arsenal@prosek.com

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 9062251

March 12, 2024

Latest Quantexa Decision Intelligence Platform Roadmap Puts Focus on Helping Enterprises and Government Agencies to Get Data Ready For AI

Microsoft and Quantexa announce partnership

Quantexa supporting rising wave of organizations using data, analytics, and AI to break down silos

Partnership with Microsoft makes Quantexa’s Decision Intelligence Platform immediately available on Microsoft Azure Marketplace; company commits to build solutions natively on Azure
Technology preview demonstrates Quantexa’s ambitious plan to accelerate platform, solution and generative AI adoption among business users, data, and IT professionals
Lighthouse customers take generative AI assistant, Q Assist, into early adoption

LONDON, March 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Quantexa, a global leader in decision intelligence solutions for the public and private sectors, used the backdrop of QuanCon24, its annual customer and partner conference, to reveal its Decision Intelligence Platform roadmap, and provided an update on Q Assist, a generative artificial intelligence (AI) assistant that previewed in July last year. Quantexa also announced a partnership with Microsoft. Dan Higgins, Quantexa’s Chief Product Officer, was joined by Kate Rosenshine, Global Technology Director, Strategic Partnerships at Microsoft, where they announced the immediate availability of Quantexa’s Decision Intelligence Platform on Microsoft Azure Marketplace and plans to bring a new cloud-native AI solution to mid-size banks in the United States.

Putting the Focus on Innovation and New Capabilities

Quantexa’s ambitious plan to lead the emerging decision intelligence category is anchored in helping enterprises and government agencies use contextual analytics and AI to improve organization-wide decision making. Quantexa is putting an emphasis on practical, real-world applicability today, with an eye on helping customers plan for future technology deployments. Gartner^® predicts that “by 2027, 75% of new analytics content will be contextualized for intelligent applications through generative AI, enabling a composable connection between insights and actions.”*

As part of Quantexa’s growth strategy, the company showcased the platform’s ability to use AI to build a trusted data foundation and bring greater effectiveness to existing decisioning processes, while seamlessly integrating into customers’ existing technology infrastructure.

Dan Higgins, Quantexa’s Chief Product Officer, stated, “When it comes to Quantexa’s technology roadmap, we are guided by our client’s needs and leadership ambition in decision intelligence. This requires us to help our customers break down organizational silos to create a trusted data foundation, automate and augment decision making, and support continuous evaluation and improvement throughout decision processes. With the introduction of new capabilities and solutions, we remain steadfastly focused on delivering groundbreaking innovation that helps organizations protect, optimize, and grow.”

Quantexa Highlights Four Key Roadmap Pillars

Powering human/AI decisioning: Quantexa continues to pioneer solutions and tools to enable the use of multiple data sources and AI to automate business decision logic across various applications. Quantexa is updating its platform with enhanced workflow capabilities including new customizable scoring, alerting, and decisioning models. Quantexa debuted the platform’s new case management capabilities and an early adoption update to Q Assist, which is being deployed by customers in banking, telecommunications, and government agencies, in pilot programs to tackle financial crime, fraud, and risk, and to identify new revenue opportunities with customer intelligence.
Operationalizing data at scale with AI and contextual analytics: Quantexa’s ability to help customers build a trusted data foundation and gain single customer views remains a top driver of platform adoption. To meet increasing demand and unique industry complexities, Quantexa showcased advancements in data management, contextual analytics, and AI capabilities. Quantexa previewed the ability to move beyond news intelligence to support the ingestion and analysis of any unstructured data source via entity resolution and give the ability to customers to enable large-scale graph analysis and graph machine learning by combining large language models (LLMs) and knowledge graphs.
Accelerating time-to-value through simplified deployments and packaged solutions: Quantexa announced new options to make it easier for customers and partners to get up and running with new deployment methods, including the introduction of out-of-the box configurations as well as low-code and no-code tools. This year, Quantexa is also investing in accelerating the enablement of its growing ecosystem of partners, which includes PWC, EY, Dun & Bradstreet, KPMG, and Moody’s, who were presenting partners at QuanCon24.
Seamlessly integrating with customers’ existing technology stacks and processes: Quantexa’s Decision Intelligence Platform has an open and extensible architecture with scalable APIs and streamlined integrations with downstream applications and systems. Future efforts will focus on building a standardized framework and out-of-the-box connectors.

Quantexa brings its Decision Intelligence Platform and solutions to Azure with Microsoft partnership

A highlight of Quantexa’s Roadmap Session at today’s event was the announcement of Quantexa’s new partnership with Microsoft. Highlights included:

The immediate availability of Quantexa’s Decision Intelligence Platform on Azure Marketplace: Quantexa’s Decision Intelligence Platform is now available globally on Azure Marketplace for customers across financial services, the public sector, insurance, telecommunications, media and technology industries.
AI innovation aids mid-size banks in meeting regulatory and market pressures:
Additionally, Quantexa detailed plans to build a new Azure native SaaS solution, allowing customers to deploy an end-to-end anti-money laundering (AML) transaction monitoring, investigations, and case management solution designed to take best-in-class capabilities used by the world’s largest banks into a tailored offering to meet the needs of financial services institutions that hold up to US$200B in assets. The solution will provide critical capabilities for monitoring, detecting, and investigating financial crime and risk to banks throughout the United States. The planned offering will help customers implement next generation technology, allowing them to keep up with the rapid pace of innovation and meet increasing compliance regulations. Quantexa is working with Microsoft to make an initial set of capabilities available by the end of 2024.

Dan Higgins, Chief Product Officer, Quantexa, said: “Over the course of the last 12 months, decision intelligence has become a rapidly growing trend, as noted by multiple industry analysts. But decision intelligence has always been at our core since our inception. And at Quantexa, as we strive to innovate and evolve our technology offering to help enterprises and government agencies use contextual analytics and AI to improve decision making, I am thrilled to see our latest technology roadmap ring true to that. Our new partnership with Microsoft is testament to our commitment to providing our customers with accessible solutions, and we’ll continue to do more and to meet our customers where they need us.”

Tyler Pichach, Director of Financial Services Strategy at Microsoft, said: “Financial Services organizations have become smarter and more efficient when it comes to successfully navigating shifting market dynamics. This is creating the need to use trusted data and AI to augment and automate the thousands of operational decisions they make daily when it comes to managing their data, tackling financial crime, or identifying new revenue opportunities. We are committed to working with partners like Quantexa to make its Decision Intelligence Platform available on Microsoft Azure Marketplace, bring new cloud native solutions to expanded market segments, and drive joint innovation to help our customers across multiple industries tackle some of their biggest challenges.”

To learn more about how your organization can put decision intelligence to work, or to read Forrester’s Total Economic Impactof the Quantexa Decision Intelligence Platform, visit here. To watch on-demand sessions from QuanCon24, visit the QuanCon website.

*Gartner, Predicts 2024: How Artificial Intelligence Will Impact Analytics Users, By Edgar Macari, Peter Krensky, Afraz Jaffri, David Pidsley, Aura Popa, Mike Fang, Rita Sallam, Julian Sun, Radu Miclaus, 4 January 2024.

About Quantexa
Quantexa is a global data and analytics software company, pioneering decision intelligence that empowers organizations to make trusted operational decisions by making data meaningful. Using the latest advancements in big data and AI, Quantexa’s Decision Intelligence platform uncovers hidden risk and new opportunities by providing a contextual, connected view of internal and external data in a single place. It solves major challenges across data management, Know Your Customer (KYC), customer intelligence, financial crime, risk, fraud, and security, throughout the customer lifecycle.

The Quantexa Decision Intelligence Platform enhances operational performance with over 90 percent more accuracy and 60 times faster analytical model resolution than traditional approaches. Founded in 2016, Quantexa now has more than 700 employees and thousands of users working with billions of transactions and data points across the world. The company has offices in London, Dublin, Brussels, Malaga, UAE, New York, Boston, Toronto, Sydney, Melbourne, and Tokyo.

Media Inquiries

C: Stephanie Crisp, Associate Director and Media Strategist, Fight or Flight
E: Quantexa@fightflight.co.uk

C: Adam Jaffe, SVP of Corporate Marketing
T: +1 609 502 6889
E: adamjaffe@quantexa.com

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March 12, 2024

Agriculture, Education And Roads, Big Beneficiaries In 2024/2025 Budget

The sectors of agriculture, education and roads are slated to reap big in the 2024/2025 national budget.

Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee for Budget and Appropriation Ndindi Nyoro has noted in the Sh4.188 trillion budget, more funds were factored to facilitate provision of various subsidies in the agricultural sector.

On Monday, the Kiharu MP said that the coffee advance cherry fund would get an additional of Sh2 billion to cushion farmers from fluctuation of local and international prices.

‘We want coffee farmers not to earn less than Sh80 per kilo of coffee. Money is factored to increase the advance cherry fund from Sh4 billion to Sh6 billion. The dairy sector will also get money to ensure farmers will not get a litre of milk at less than Sh50,’ said Ndindi during a public participation on road construction in Murang’a town, Monday.

Ndindi underscored the largest budget the country has ever had saying it’s targeting to improve socio-economic status of Kenyans and especially those who have vent
ured in businesses, manufacturing and agricultural sectors.

‘Still in agriculture, the government aims to lower funds used to import edible oils. The country spends more than Sh150 billion annually to import edible oil but in the next financial year budget, money is allocated to promote farming of crops like sunflower that facilitate manufacturing of edible oils,’ remarked the legislator.

Ndindi said through import substitution, seeds of the crops used to manufacture edible oils would be procured and distributed to farmers so as to have yields which would lower dependence on importation of edible oils.

On roads, the MP said Sh220 billion is allocated for development of roads across the country.

‘Sh70 billion of the amount proposed for roads will be provided by the government and the remaining sum will be sourced from development partners. The allocated figure also includes recurrent expenditure that is maintenance of continuous maintenance of the roads,’ he asserted.

Ndindi further observed that the educ
ation sector is allocated Sh670 billion part of which would be used to employ teachers.

‘Sh26.6 billion from the amount allocated for education will be used by the Teachers Service Commission to absorb the 20, 000 intern teachers into permanent basis. Another more than Sh30 billion will be used to employ 20, 000 additional teachers,’ said Ndindi.

The education sector, the MP noted, needs more funding to implement various reforms including ongoing implementation of competency based curriculum.

Source: Kenya News Agency

March 12, 2024

Students In Nyamira Benefit From Presidential Bursary

One hundred and sixty orphans and vulnerable students in Nyamira County, have benefited from the Presidential Bursary, to enable them access their basic right of secondary education.

Nyamira County Children Services Co-ordinator, Rasto Omollo, confirmed to KNA that over two million shillings have been disbursed to the orphans, who had lost hope of accessing secondary education, due to poverty and lack of financially stable caregivers.

‘We have disbursed a total of Sh2, 217,250 to 160 orphans, which will enable them access their secondary education. All our new beneficiaries have joined form one and we hope to give them support until they finish their secondary education,’ Omollo confirmed.

‘All our new beneficiaries are those who joined form one this year. We shall clear the remaining school fee balances, when we shall receive the remaining half of the disbursement, before the close of this Financial Year,’ Rasto said.

He explained that there are beneficiaries who were between form two to form four in var
ious secondary schools countrywide and depending on the school the student was admitted in, Sh15,000 was disbursed for Sub-county and Sh30,000 Extra-county and National Secondary schools.

‘It is not possible to enroll all orphans in the Presidential Bursary programme because they are many compared to the funds allocated for the same, we therefore, form a special select committee, which evaluates all the applications forms, and thereafter approve those orphans who are very vulnerable and genuinely deserve to benefit from the bursary kitty,’ the County Children Services Co-ordinator explained.

Sharon Momanyi, a form four student at Nyakeore Secondary School in Nyamira South Sub-county, said she was very grateful for being considered to be a beneficiary of the Presidential Bursary, because she had lost hope of undertaking her secondary education because she was under the care of her grandmother, who was very old and could not work to cater for her education needs.

According to Sharon, so long as she has eaten
, that was more than enough because she was unable to provide other basic needs, including education.

Rasto urged students to work hard in school and score good grades which would give them an opportunity to be enrolled in competitive career courses and transform their vulnerability and entire life once they get employment.

Source: Kenya News Agency

March 12, 2024

Feeding Program Boosts Enrolment In Busia

Since the roll-out of the school feeding program by the county government of Busia, class

enrollment for Early Child Development Education (ECDE) has increased by 25% with

parents now opting to take underage to school to enjoy a meal.

Before the interception of the program, the regular class enrolment stood at 40,000 across 460 public ECDE learning institutions in the county and the number has now risen to over 53,000 within one month since the program was launched.

Education stakeholders in various institutions who spoke to KNA while on spot-check have praised the program as they committed their support toward the program.

Peter Iganga the head teacher at Mujuru primary school applauded the county government for the intervention owing to the high poverty index in the county had pushed most pupils to stay away from class as they could not withstand staying in class for 6 hours on an empty stomach.

‘This program has helped to improve learner’s retention rate and enrollment giving

teachers an easy task w
hen it comes to syllabus coverage,’ Iganga noted.

‘The feeding program doubled the class attendance here at school with learners expressing a lot of enthusiasm and positivity in their school work,’ he added.

His sentiments were echoed by Antony Ogutu the school head Igero Primary School who noted that the level of absenteeism has greatly dropped which is a positive gesture on learners’ performance in class.

‘ECDE learners are very emotional and not easy to handle, but since the programme was launched by the governor one month ago, we have experienced happy class interaction with most learners feeling happy during school days as opposed to when they are going back at home,’ Ogutu said.

However, they have implored the county government of Busia to supply enough beans that cover the whole term for the smooth running of the programme.

The health and nutrition of school-age children (5-9 years of age; referred to as middle childhood) receive less attention than that of younger children or adolescents. However
, this life stage is critical for learning and intellectual development as well as for shaping attitudes, behaviours, and practices. An integrated package of essential health and nutrition services implemented through schools is a key investment in better futures for children and their communities

The ECDE teachers who spoke to the press commended the program noting that it has given them an easy time to focus on molding pupils in their early development for their brighter days ahead in school.

‘Dealing with a happy lot of learners gives you joy as a teacher, it reduces a lot of time we waste on stress management of pupils before we embark on class session, we can project better performance among our learners should the program continue,’ said Ann Wangeci, ECDE teacher at Mujuru.

Janet Namale another ECDE teacher at Burumba said with reduced levels of absenteeism, teachers are now able to bond with learners giving them enough time to understand the abilities of different learners as recommended by CBC.

‘W
hen teachers get enough time to bond with learners, they understand their abilities and weaknesses earlier making it easy for them to handle them appropriately,’ said Madam Namale.

Speaking during the launch of the school feeding programme, Busia Governor, Dr.Paul Otuoma stated the move is to fight stunted growth among young children because of malnutrition.

‘This feeding program aims at addressing stunted growth among children in Busia which stands at 15% according to UNICEF report of 2023,’ Governor Otuma said.

‘With a population of over 50,000 learners, this program aims at improving nutrition level among school-going children, boosting the enrollment level across all schools,’ the governor emphasized.

Parents were urged by both the county and school administrations to embrace the programs for their success.

The county government of Busia has invested 33 million in the school feeding program.

Source: Kenya News Agency

March 12, 2024

Council Of Elders Raises Concern Over Increased Transportation Of Donkeys In Narok

The Maasai Council of Elders has raised concern over the increased transportation of donkeys along major highways in Narok County, especially during the night hours.

The Council’s Chair Kelena Ole Nchoe said the trend has led to a dwindling population of the beast of burden in the county, with many people reporting to have lost their animals in the recent past.

Ole Nchoe called on the security agents to investigate where the animals were coming from and their destination, and whether the transporters had a legal license.

‘It is not a wonder to see hundreds of donkeys being pushed towards the Maai Mahiu direction in the night hours. Which makes us wonder is whether the transporters have legal permits to transport the animals or not,’ he said.

Nchoe said donkeys were precious animals in every homestead as they are used for transportation and a means of earning an income.

‘A donkey can transport heavy loads on rough roads where motorbikes or vehicles cannot penetrate. Women go long distances to fetch water
and transport goods to the marketplaces using donkeys. Sadly, their numbers are decreasing every day,’ he said.

The Council Chair asked the government to put stringent measures to protect the donkeys so that they do not become extinct from the county.

He also called on the residents to stop selling their donkeys to people in the outside counties and instead protect them passionately as they were their main source of revenue.

Silonka Ole Eille, the Vice Chairman of the Maa Council of Elders said donkeys were important animals in the Maa culture saying it was treated as a sacred animal because of its unique role in the community.

‘In our culture, if you kill a donkey, you are forced to pay with a sheep and honey because the animal is treated as a sacred animal,’ he said.

The elder said the economy of the Maa women in the village directly depended on the donkey, hence a reason to worry when the animals start disappearing mysteriously.

He recalled recently when his neighbour’s five donkeys were stolen and n
ever traced despite efforts to report them to the police.

‘The family was completely destabilized after the theft of the donkeys as they completely depended on the animals for their livelihood. This is why we call upon the government to devise ways of protecting the animals that are on the verge of extinction,’ he said.

Source: Kenya News Agency

March 12, 2024

Company Donates Food To 40,000 Needy Families

Bulk Stream Limited in partnership with Jaffery Foundation has launched a countrywide distribution of food packs targeting 40,000 needy families during the holy month of Ramadhan.

The move will complement government efforts being spearheaded by Principal Secretary for ASALs and Regional Development Kello Harsama who distributed food stuffs worth Sh124.5 million to needy Muslim families in Marsabit, Garissa, Mandera, Wajir, Mombasa, Lamu, Nakuru, Baringo, Isiolo, Kitui, Nyeri, Uasin Gishu, Kakamega, Machakos, Taita Taveta, Kwale, Kilifi, and Nairobi.

Bulk Stream food packs comprise staple food items like wheat, maize flour, rice, beans sugar, porridge, salt, tea leaves, dates and cooking oil will provide a one-month nutritious need.

The donations will be distributed in all the coastal counties including the drought and flood-ravaged Tana River which is still reeling from the adverse effects of the disasters.

The food donation is a relief to thousands of vulnerable families amid the hard economic times occa
sioned by a myriad of external factors leading to a surge in the prices of basic commodities in the count

‘We are hoping and praying that this humble gesture will go a long way to alleviate and cushion many needy Kenyans during these tough economic times,’ said Solomon Ondego, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bulk Stream Limited in Mombasa.

Ondego exhorted other organizations and individuals to support vulnerable Kenyans during the holy month of Ramadhan where Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. ‘It is only when we do collectively together we will make a change’

Yusuf Jiwa from the Jaffery Foundation said the food donation is an annual event in the foundation calendar aiming to provide essential food to economically challenged families.

‘This not only helps lessen the financial burden on these families but also serves as a reminder of the importance of spreading kindness and generosity,’ said Jiwa, reiterating that economic hardships make it difficult for families to meet their basic needs

He added th
at the Ramadhan food distribution program significantly impacts the lives of those in need by ensuring that they have food on their tables. It also brings hope and relief during the month of reflection, gratitude and generosity.

Jiwa noted that they not only fulfil moral duties as donors but also spread love, compassion, and unity. He appealed to other organizations to embrace the spirit of giving and serving humanity selflessly to embody the true essence of Ramadhan.

Source: Kenya News Agency

March 12, 2024

Murang’a Farmers Decry High Costs Of Farm Inputs

A section of farmers in Murang’a have decried the high cost of farm inputs and the looming scarcity ahead of the planting season.

The farmers claim that farm inputs including certified seeds and fertilizer are not readily

available in local agro vet outlets in some parts of the County while those available are priced highly.

One of the farmers, Jeremiah Thiong’o who spoke to KNA on Monday revealed that prices of maize seeds purchased at several agrovet outlets in the county are extremely high.

Thiong’o, who is a maize farmer, said that one of the popular certified maize seed varieties that farmers in his area plant has seen a price hike of Sh 400.

‘In my piece of land, I usually plant maize among other plants. In the recent past, the maize seed variety that I planted called DK cost Sh. 1200, up from Sh 800’ said Thiong’o.

He said that he is finding difficulties in acquiring the right seeds due to their high cost and also their scarcity in the market and agrovets.

He further added that he will have to r
ecycle the produce from last season as he can’t afford the price of the high-yielding seeds.

Gabriel Ndirangu another farmer says some of the challenges that he is facing is the scarcity of inputs like fertilizer that he needs to enrich the soils of his farm for higher produce.

Ndirangu says that it was unfortunate that for one to access the subsidized fertilizer provided by the government, one has to be registered with the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).

‘I went to NCPB in Maragua but I was not able to access the subsidized fertilizer because I am not a registered member,’ he said, adding that he was not among the lucky farmers who had benefited from the program.

He divulged that he was afraid that the county might face famine because many farmers can’t afford the high costs of farm inputs thus leading to poor yields.

Ndirangu observes that there are chances that most likely, farmers will opt to shift from maize planting to alternative crops that are cost-effective such as beans and kale whic
h will in turn disadvantage the nation for there will be no enough food supply.

Grace Ndanu, who sells farm inputs at a local agrovet based in Murang’a town says that her business has not been doing well in terms of sales as a result of what she believes could be the hike in prices of the products.

‘For example, a 50kg bag of 23/23 fertilizer which was retailing at Sh. 3500 in the past years, is now selling at Sh 4500 to Sh 5000’ she said.

He said that the price hike of about Sh 1500 is making farmers shy away from buying fertilizer thus has negatively affected his business for most of the customers have opted to go for government subsidized fertilizers.

Ndanu further said that some of the farmers have also decided to use organic manure from locally available materials since they cannot afford to purchase either fertilizer from agrovets or subsidized fertilizer offered by the government.

Source: Kenya News Agency

March 12, 2024

Judiciary Implements Nationwide E-Filing System, Data System Dashboard And Causelist Portal

The Judiciary has launched a nationwide e-filing system, Data System Dashboard and Causelist Portal to support the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) in its research to access justice, improve the service delivery and enhance the transition of paper work to online access.

Speaking at the event, Chief Justice (CJ) Martha Koome said that the initiative has been a journey that began 20 years ago where she acknowledged serious collaboration and hard work among partners.

‘It is a momentous occasion that marks a giant reap in commitment to transform how to deliver through strategic use of technology in alignment with the vision of the Judiciary of Social Transformation Through Access To Justice on blueprint,’ expressed Koome.

She highlighted that the Judicial Vision is to enhance productivity, automate processes, digitalize services and establish a paperless environment, making justice more accessible and reducing the geographical barriers to accessing Justice.

Koome reiterated that there should be no impediment when t
he people have to seek a remedy since justice cuts across everyone.

The CJ added that the system will help the judiciary to be more efficient and more accessible as it will simplify cases, filing of cases and tracking the records.

She revealed that the Judiciary will stop the printing of papers from July 1st , 2024 and instead the documents and resources will be replaced by ink, desktops and Laptops

Further, Koome urged the Judiciary to embrace the initiative which presents an opportunity to bring greater service delivery.

‘Data Tracking Dashboard is a platform that monitors case processing through courts and tribunals through e-filing which will also detect and analyze case adjournment from different courts thus it is a critical tool for evidence tracking,’ Koome explained.

The CJ requested the Directorate of Information, Communication and the Digital Economy to begin the implementation and harness technology since the judiciary considers everybody equal despite their geographical differences saying the
y all deserve quality service.

She also urged all stakeholders to continue working together and leverage the tools in the Judiciary in this transformative project.

Also speaking during the launch, Deputy CJ Justice Philomena Mwilu said that, while the Judiciary remains crucial in regards to capacity of court users, it must also harness the use of ICT since it deals with those dynamic challenges in access to justice.

She observed that the Judiciary will improve human resource, integrity, and change management in the deployment of digital use, maintaining that the system will ensure technology does not limit the support to Litigants.

At the same time, the Cabinet Secretary (CS), for Public Service Performance and Delivery Management, Moses Kuria insisted that online filing can have exactly the same access to service delivery.

He noted that access to justice has been a premium product and very few citizens had low access to layers but technology has made each one equal.

The CS said that the collaboration o
f Judiciary and Huduma Kenya will make work easier since Huduma Kenya will help people to access judiciary services.

Kuria added that his Ministry will roll out huduma centers across the country which will have an enclosed room for Judiciary so that everyone can feel free to file a case in privacy and access the service.

He said that his Ministry will need to support the Judiciary by providing allocation and resources to help it run its services to all.

Concurrently, CS for Information, Communication and the Digital Economy Eliud Owalo observed that aiding the case tracking system, a virtual processing, is one of the solutions since the internal process needs a note taking to be able to serve the customers.

Owalo noted that the Judiciary is in the forefront to ensure that they have a single source of truth by sharing information and not to duplicate the data.

He cited the exemplary achievement made by the Judiciary is expanding its reach of judicial services by operationalizing the judicial desks.

In a
speech read by Mary Kirima, the CS disclosed that his Ministry has ambitious programs to support the digital transformation by digitizing government services and products.

‘The Ministry of information, communication and Digital Economy has automated 15,000 services online through the E-citizen platform and is also planning to digitize over 5 million manual records in all thegovernments,’ stated Owalo.

He further acknowledged the ICT staff who developed the system for the Judiciary , further noting that the goal is to ensure that government officers are able to communicate digitally and by getting rid of papers.

The CS also said that the Ministry has marked on the laying of the 100,000 kilometres of fibre that will help the Judiciary in matters of connectivity, noting that this initiative has enabled the Ministry to connect 14,000 schools, 74,000 institutions and Government offices including Judicial Offices.

He also acknowledged the leadership of the Judiciary which has demonstrated great value fortechnol
ogy saying that he will ensure through his ministry, that the system the Judiciary has developed will be utilized as the judicial officers serves the customers at their comfort zone.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court Judge and Chairperson of the Integrated Case Management Systems (ICMS) Committee Justice Isaac Leonala said that all state organs are obligated to access judicial service and access to justice.

He said that the system will generate its own stamp where litigants will download their files and print them.

Leonala also called upon the partners, stakeholder ministries and LSK to work together to ensure success of the new technological processes.

Source: Kenya News Agency