BETHESDA, Md. -(Dow Jones)- AppNet Inc. and Commerce One Inc. said
they are negotiating a potential combination but haven't inked a merger
agreement, contradicting a news release "inadvertently" published
earlier Monday announcing a deal.
AppNet (APNT), an electronic-business consulting firm, said in a
statement that "significant issues" still need to be resolved before a
definitive deal can be reached.
According to the premature press release, Commerce One agreed to
exchange about 0.8 Commerce One (CMRC) shares for each outstanding
AppNet share. Based on AppNet's approximately 34 million shares
outstanding and Commerce One's closing stock price Friday of $50.75,
such a deal would be valued at about $1.38 billion.
Attributed to Commerce One, the news release appeared on M2
Communications Ltd.'s M2 Presswire, an Australian public relations
service. The release said the merger would be structured as a tax-free,
stock-for-stock exchange, and would be accounted for as a purchase.
Neither Commerce One nor AppNet representatives were immediately
available to comment.
The companies have had business dealings in the past. In April, they
announced that they would jointly develop an online business-to-business
sales network that would combine AppNet's e-commerce services with
Commerce One's BuySite electronic-procurement application and its
MarketSite portal.
Bethesda, Md.-based AppNet provides interactive marketing and
e-business services. It offers data-warehousing and e-commerce systems
services, plus designs Internet sites and electronic-data interchange
systems.
Commerce One, of Pleasanton, Calif., makes e-commerce software and
operates business-to-business Internet marketplaces. Last week, the
company landed a deal with German software maker SAP AG to jointly
develop an e-business marketplace providing services ranging from
collaborative design to order fulfillment.
(Compiled from Dow Jones Newswires and other sources)
Copyright (c) 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
================================================================ |
