Open Text Requests OSC Order Requiring Accelio Board To Deliver Directors' Circular

Waterloo, Ontario - 2002-01-09 - Open Text Corporation (NASDAQ:OTEX, TSE:OTC) today announced that it applied on January 8, 2002 to the Ontario Securities Commission (the "OSC") for an order of the OSC requiring the board of directors of Accelio Corporation ("Accelio") to comply with its obligation to deliver a directors' circular to shareholders of Accelio. The statutory deadline for delivery of the circular was January 4, 2002, which is 15 days after the commencement of the offer by Open Text's subsidiary to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Accelio. Open Text has taken this action out of concern that the board of directors of Accelio has not provided Accelio shareholders with the information required to be delivered to them, in a timely fashion, to enable them to make a decision respecting Open Text's offer.

About Open Text

Open Text provides collaborative commerce solutions for e-business that enable users to extend and build CRM, SCM and ERP applications and allow them to work together within and across organizations. Open Text has pioneered the development of innovative intranet, extranet and e-business applications. Since creating one of the first search engines to index the World Wide Web, the Company has remained at the forefront of Internet-based technologies. Its solution family called Livelink enables individuals, teams, organizations, and global trading com munities to collaborate on e-business applications that facilitate e-commerce and other transactions among Global 2000 organizations. For more information, visit www.opentext.com.

Release Disclaimer

This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" relating to the proposed acquisition of Accelio Corporation and the future performance of Open Text Corporation (the "Company"). Forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, or developments in the Company's business or its industry, to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance, achievements or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to:

  1. risks involved in the completion and integration of the acquisition;
  2. expected cost savings from the acquisition may not be fully realized or realized within the expected time frame;
  3. revenue of the combined company may be lower than expected;
  4. the possibility of technical, logistical or planning issues in connection with deployments;
  5. costs or difficulties related to obtaining regulatory approvals for completing the acquisition and, following the acquisition, the integration of the companies may be greater than expected;
  6. legislative or regulatory changes may adversely affect the businesses in which the companies are engaged; and
  7. changes may occur in the securities or capital markets.
A more detailed discussion of these and other important risk factors can be found in the sections entitled "Business", "Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure About Market Risk" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Ontario Securities Commission and other securities commissions across Canada, including the Company's Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2001. Forward-looking statements in this press release are based on management's beliefs and opinions at the time the statements are made, and there should be no expectation that these forward-looking statements will be updated or supplemented as a result of changing circumstances or otherwise, and Open Text disavows and disclaims any obligation to do so.

For more information, please contact

Alan Hoverd
Chief Financial Officer
Open Text Corporation
519-888-7111 ext.2480
ahoverd@opentext.com

Greg Secord
Open Text Corporation
+1-519-888-7111 ext.2408
gsecord@opentext.com