Re: MCTR
Well...i was three months too early on this one, my bad.
WESTBORO, Mass. (Dow Jones)--Ascential Software Corp. (ASCL) agreed to
acquire Mercator Software Inc. (MCTR) for about $106 million to create what
Ascential said will be the largest independent software vendor focused
exclusively on enterprise data integration.
Under the deal, Ascential will pay $3 for each Mercator share, representing a
22% premium to Mercator's Friday closing price of $2.45 on the Nasdaq Stock
Market.
Ascential expects the acquisition to add to earnings within the first year of
combined operations, and create a company with annual revenue of about $250
million and more than 3,000 customers.
Mercator, based in Wilton, Conn., provides software that helps companies link
their computer systems. Ascential, Westboro, Mass., is a provider of enterprise
data quality management software.
Meanwhile, Mercator said its second-quarter loss widened from a year earlier
as information-technology spending remained sluggish.
Mercator's net loss came to $9.2 million, or 26 cents a share, compared to a
loss of $8.3 million, or 24 cents a share, a year earlier.
Mercator said its loss excluding the impact of amortization, restructuring
and stock-option repricing narrowed to $1.9 million, or five cents a share,
from $3.4 million, or 10 cents a share, last year.
Revenue declined 18% to $22 million from nearly $27 million. Software license
revenue fell 44% to $6.1 million.
VM |
