Rumoured buyout of Ezenet
quote.bloomberg.com
Ezenet (v.eze) home page is at ezenet.com and the SI thread is at Subject 27776
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Ezenet Rises on Speculation 724 Solutions to Make
Bid (Update1)
By Maya Teleki and Keith Campbell
Ezenet Rises on Speculation 724 Solutions to Make Bid (Update1)
(Adds comment from Ezenet CFO in fifth paragraph.)
Toronto, March 1 (Bloomberg) -- Ezenet Corp. shares rose 38
percent on speculation the developer of software for the financial
industry may be taken over by rival 724 Solutions Inc., traders
said.
Chris Shelton, a trader at Charles Schwab Canada Corp. in
Toronto, said he heard speculation that 724 Solutions would bid
for Ezenet.
Ezenet stock rose C$6 ($4.14) to C$21.95 on the Canadian
Venture Exchange in trading of 143,000 shares, compared with a six-
month daily average of 18,000.
Ezenet shares were halted earlier today when the company
received an C$18 million investment from Octagon Capital Corp. and
Salman Partners Inc. The company said it will use the proceeds to
develop wireless and Linux-based financial applications.
Ezenet Chief Financial Officer Terry Rogers said his company
would consider a takeover offer, though he said it hasn't received
one.
``We would certainly look at it,' Rogers said. ``We have the
back end to their front end and they have a presence that we don't
at this point.'
Ezenet's software keeps track of financial transactions and
accounts for banks, while 724 Solutions software lets banks
provide services and deliver stock quotes over wireless phones,
hand-held computers or pagers via the Internet.
724 Solutions is partly owned by Citigroup Inc., Bank of
America Corp. and Bank of Montreal. The company, which first sold
shares to the public at C$37.27 a share in January, has risen more
than ninefold since, giving it a market value of C$11.9 billion.
724 Solutions stock rose C$65 to C$337. It signed an
agreement with Swedish cell-phone maker Ericsson AB on Monday.
724 Solutions officials weren't immediately available to
comment. |
