Flycast Acquires E-Mail Management Firm InterStep

Ad network Flycast Communications Corp. has acquired InterStep, a provider of targeted email management and delivery services, in a deal valued at about $11.3 million.

The transaction will be accounted for as a pooling of interests. Flycast issued 480,337 shares of common stock to InterStep shareholders. Flycast shares closed Monday at $23.625.

“This acquisition adds a proven technology platform and sophisticated email marketing expertise to Flycast’s newly created eDispatch email marketing division,” said George Garrick, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Flycast. “InterStep provides a scaleable, feature-rich email management infrastructure that enables Flycast to deliver sophisticated email marketing solutions.”

InterStep said it currently delivers more than four million targeted opt-in emails per day. Its clients include AnchorDesk and its parent company ZDNet, Washington Post and Newsweek Interactive, and Softbank Comdex.

As part of its eDispatch product suite, Flycast (FCST) will offer Web-based email management services to publishers participating in its email advertising network. Flycast said it also will provide email marketing and management solutions to local merchants who advertise on the Flycast Network through value-added reseller relationships with BellSouth, US West and SBC Corp.

InterStep and its management team, including company founders Bill Jacobson and Craig Mattson, will become part of Flycast’s eDispatch email marketing division.

Flycast’s flagship offering is the Flycast Network, which claims to reach more than 25 million people a month, or 41 percent of the Web audience in the United States.