American Greetings Announces Plans To Acquire Gibson Greetings Inc. / Transaction Includes Gibson Greetings Holdings in United Kingdom

CLEVELAND (PROTEXT) - American Greetings (NYSE: AM) today announced plans to acquire Gibson Greetings Inc. (Nasdaq: GIBG) in a transaction that will bring an expanded product offering to the marketplace in the United Kingdom. "This acquisition marks our most important step yet in implementing our long-term strategic plan, which includes an increased focus on our international greeting card businesses," said Morry Weiss, chairman and chief executive officer of American Greetings. He said the companies signed a definitive agreement yesterday and the respective boards of directors approved the transaction. The acquisition still requires regulatory approval. Mary Ann Corrigan-Davis, senior vice president of International Operations for American Greetings, said the Gibson transaction emphasizes the American Greetings commitment to broaden its focus on the United Kingdom, and will benefit UK retailers and consumers. "We are excited to add Gibson in the United Kingdom to the growing American Greetings family worldwide," Corrigan-Davis said. "This transaction will allow us to bring a larger and more creative offering of greeting cards to consumers in the UK while improving the level of service to independent retailers throughout the country." Last year, the UK subsidiary of American Greetings - UK Greetings Ltd - acquired Hanson White Group and Camden Graphics. Those acquisitions complement its existing operations in the UK with Carlton Cards. American Greetings expects the acquisition of Gibson to generate ongoing revenue of about $225 million and ongoing annual cost savings of at least $50 million (US) globally. American Greetings has agreed to pay $10.25 for each share of Gibson stock upon completion of the transaction. Weiss said American Greetings is in a unique position to realize the full value of Gibson's current operations. Terms of the transaction reflect the value from the following three distinct business segments: * Gibson's greeting card division in the United Kingdom will add incremental growth to UK Greetings Ltd. * Gibson's creative content and investment in electronic commerce will enhance the electronic marketing division of American Greetings. * Gibson's US greeting card division will provide ongoing sales opportunities for American Greetings from several new retail partners, making American Greetings a stronger and more effective competitor across all channels of distribution. "This is an exciting opportunity for us to work with Gibson to further grow its distribution in the UK," said John Charlton, managing director for UK Greetings. "Gibson has done a great job in the UK to develop sales, particularly with independent retailers." Frank O'Connell, chairman and chief executive officer of Gibson Greetings, agreed that the sale to American Greetings represents a tremendous opportunity for retailers in the United Kingdom. "We also are happy that American Greetings values the 150-year heritage of Gibson and the value of our brand in the worldwide marketplace," O'Connell said. "Our key accounts should welcome the opportunity to partner with American Greetings with its greater array of products and services and we expect our customers to benefit from this transaction." Weiss said the acquisition of Gibson is another example of American Greetings commitment to its long-term strategic plan and its goal to enhance shareholder value. "Since we unveiled our strategic plan in 1997, we have taken a series of steps to grow all of our businesses," Weiss said. "We also have introduced innovative greeting card lines and signed important licensing agreements that have enhanced our entire product offering. Those factors, coupled with an improved focus on managing our capital resources, continue to allow American Greetings to grow while adding value to all of our key audiences." American Greetings is the world's largest publicly held creator, manufacturer and distributor of greeting cards and social expression products. With headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings employs more than 21,000 associates around the world and has one of the largest creative studios in the world. For more information on the Company, visit our site on the World Wide Web at www.americangreetings.com . Gibson Greetings, Inc., an industry innovator in the greeting card business. Gibson distributes more than 24,000 individual relationship communication products, including greeting cards, gift wrap, party goods and licensed. E-mail greetings featuring Gibson content are available through the privately held Egreetings Network ( www.egreetings.com ), in which Gibson holds a minority equity interest. Gibson cards are also available through the Internet from Sparks.com ( www.sparks.com ). For more information on Gibson Greetings, visit our web site at www.gibsongreetings.com . Forward looking statements contained in this press release involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated. Factors that could cause such differences include this risks associated with the businesses of American Greetings and Gibson Greetings generally, transactional effects, integration risks and other investment considerations described from time to time by companies in their filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. ots Original Text Service: American Greetings Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Dale A. Cable, Vice President, Treasurer, 216-252-7300, or Jim King, Manager, Investor & Media Relations, 216-252-4864, or jim.king@amgreetings.com, both of American Greetings; or Adam Friedman of Adam Friedman Associates for Gibson Greetings, 212- 391-7596, or adam@adam-friedman.com; or James T. Wilson, Chief Financial Officer of Gibson Greetings, 513-841-6926 Web site: http:// www.sparks.com http://www.egreetings.com http://www.gibsongreetings.com http://www.americangreetings.com Subscribers please note that material bearing the slug "PROTEXT" is not part of CTK's news service and is not to be published under the "CTK" slug. Protext is a commercial service providing distribution of press releases from clients, who are identified in the text of Protext reports and who bear full responsibility for their contents. PROTEXT