STAMFORD, Conn., April 4 -- Pitney Bowes Inc. today announced that its Management Services subsidiary has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the stock of Ibis Consulting, Inc. for approximately $67 million. Ibis is a leading provider of electronic discovery (eDiscovery) services to law firms and corporate clients. Subject to regulatory approval and completion of other customary conditions, the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2006. This acquisition will help the company do more for customers and shareholders, according to Michael J. Critelli, Chairman and CEO of Pitney Bowes. "One of our strategies for growing customer and shareholder value is to leverage our mailstream management expertise in transaction-intensive verticals like the legal market. Last year we created Pitney Bowes Legal Solutions within Management Services to deliver customized technology and services for the physical and electronic mail and document flows of customers in the legal market. Ibis Consulting's technology and offerings complement those of Compulit, which we acquired last year, and expand our range of solutions and services for the complex litigation support needs of law firms and corporate legal departments. Pitney Bowes and Ibis Consulting customers will all benefit from our combined portfolio of mailstream solutions and our expanded capability to manage both hard copy and electronic documents." Litigation support is a $3 billion market that is rapidly expanding, and eDiscovery is one of the fastest growing segments within litigation support. eDiscovery covers a wide range of functions, including the processing of different types of electronic files into a format that is usable by standard document management tools, indexing and searching electronic files, and electronic archival and retrieval. Ibis Consulting generated approximately $23 million in revenue in its last fiscal year by providing eDiscovery services and solutions for independent resellers, law firms, corporations and other partners involved in large-scale litigation, white-collar criminal defense, and mergers and acquisitions. According to Jay McNally, founder of Ibis Consulting, "We are excited about this transaction because we share Pitney Bowes' vision for providing more software, services and solutions to the legal and compliance markets. This acquisition provides our channel partners and other customers continued access to Ibis' state of the art eDiscovery services along with Pitney Bowes' wide array of products and services. I see this as a big benefit for all Ibis and Pitney Bowes customers."