We couldn't respond to this until the deal was completed, so I'm closing this off with a copy of the letter sent out to all our customers today:

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Dear valued customer,

Following our August announcement of the pending combination of RWS and SDL, we are very pleased to announce that the transaction has now completed, combining our two businesses as of today. The combined business is named RWS Holdings plc and is listed on the London Stock Exchange (RWS.L).

Our customers are at the very heart of the rationale for joining our two businesses together. By combining SDL’s strong language and content technologies with RWS’ specialist technical translation and localization capabilities, the combined company aims to be the leading language and content services and software company in the world. Our clear goal is to deliver the highest quality services and solutions to our valued customers. We welcome the opportunity to discuss with you how our combined organization will offer an enhanced service and solution proposition for your business.

Over the coming months, we will be embarking on a review of our combined processes and operations, which is customary following transactions of this nature. The review will provide the basis of an integration program designed to minimize disruption to our customers, employees and suppliers.

As we look to integrate our two businesses, we remain steadfast in our commitment to providing a superior customer value proposition. I assure you that you will receive a seamless high-quality level of service during our integration phase. In the immediate future, it is very much “business as usual” as current workflows, purchase orders, invoicing protocols and team structures remain in place.

I reiterate our sincere appreciation for the trust and confidence you place in us. Our focus on your business remains our utmost priority during this exciting time.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any questions or comments.

Full details of the transaction are available at https://www.RWS.com/investor-relations/

Regards,

Massimo Ghislandi 
Executive Vice President, Translation Productivity

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In general my own view is that we should find this beneficial as RWS were already a customer with a lot of in-house translators, project managers and localization engineers.  Having more ability from users to influence the direction of the product from a company with such a strong focus on language is a good thing.