LONDON -- BT today announced the acquisition of Fresca Limited, the specialist retail e-commerce service provider. The acquisition will significantly strengthen the e-commerce and IT integration capabilities of BT Expedite, the retail solutions division of BT, enabling it to provide a seamless multichannel shopping experience for retail customers.

Established in 2000 and headquartered in High Wycombe, Fresca provides fully managed and hosted e-commerce services to over 20 retailers and e-tailers such as Mosaic Fashions (whose brands include Oasis, Karen Millen, Warehouse, Shoe Studio, Principles and Coast), Thomas Pink, Great Little Trading Co., Habitat, Moss, Phase Eight, Whistles and Harvey Nichols.

The acquisition of Fresca will allow BT Expedite to offer a comprehensive e-commerce platform, highly customisable web store front and the flexible integration capabilities of its e-commerce engine. Fresca’s domain expertise and complementary technologies will provide BT Expedite with the platform to deliver an integrated multichannel shopping experience to retailers and customers.

Helen Slaven, CEO of BT Expedite, said: “We are delighted with the acquisition of Fresca. Through its existing products Fresca gives BT Expedite a full suite of solutions to support multichannel retailing. Fresca brings to us a strong product set and one of the sector’s leading experts in online retailing. We look forward to working with retailers as their multichannel strategies develop.”

John Bovill, Group IT Director of Mosaic Fashions, commented: “We congratulate BT Expedite on their acquisition of Fresca. We have worked with both companies for several years as jointly they provide the solutions for our entire multichannel supply chain systems from sourcing to store and online. We look forward to working closely with them as we continue to strengthen our multichannel capability.”

Sarah Hughes, MD of Fresca, said: “We are delighted to have been acquired by BT. From our earliest discussions with Helen and her colleagues at BT Expedite, the benefits of an acquisition by BT were clear for both our customers and employees. We look forward to working as part of BT in strengthening its e-commerce offering in the retail market.”

BT is acquiring the shares in Fresca from the management and employees. The gross assets of the company as at 31 March 2007 were £0.85 million

BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA)