Identix to Buy Visionics for Stock
story.news.yahoo.com
Fri Feb 22, 5:50 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Security technology firm Identix Inc. is buying rival Visionics Corp. for $269 million in stock to gain leverage in a hot industry as companies, airlines and the government seek to bolster their security, the companies announced on Friday.
The companies billed the deal as a $600 million merger of equals, but Identix essentially values Visionics shares at $9.34 a share, an 11 percent discount from Friday's closing price of $10.50 on the Nasdaq.
Terms of the transaction call for Identix to exchange 1.3436 of its shares for each Visionics share. Shareholders of Identix, which makes fingerprint recognition technology, will own 52.4 percent of the new company and Visionics shareholders will own the other 47.6 percent.
Identix Chairman and Chief Executive Robert McCashin will serve as chairman of the new company, and Visionics CEO Joseph Atick will serve as the CEO. The new company, still unnamed, will have a board comprised of eight directors, four from each company.
Visionics, based in Jersey City, New Jersey, sells face recognition and fingerprint ID technology, primarily to the U.S. government.
The deal is subject to the approval of both companies' shareholders and U.S. regulators.
"I believe we can accelerate revenue growth by taking advantage of immediate up-sell and cross-sell opportunities in every market in which we currently operate," Atick said in a statement.
Lehman Brothers served as financial adviser to Identix on the deal while Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. advised Visionics.
Shares of Identix, based in Los Gatos, California, closed down 16 cents, or 2.3 percent, at $6.95 on Nasdaq ahead of the announcement, and Visionics shares ended up 20 cents, or 1.9 percent, at $10.50. |
