Found it:
Informix To Acquire Red Brick Systems 10/08/98
Newsbytes, Thursday, October 08, 1998 at 15:13
MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1998 OCT 8 (NB) -- By
Matt Hines, Newsbytes. Database software maker Informix Corp.
[NASDAQ:IFMX] said yesterday that it will acquire
database management software developer Red Brick Systems Inc.
[NASDAQ:REDB] for roughly $35 million in common stock.
Red Brick has slumped over the last year as the leader of its
market segment, Oracle Corp., publicly targeted its products. The
two companies reported that their deal stipulates that each share
of Red Brick stock will be traded for 0.6 share of Informix
stock. The companies said that they expect the transaction to
be completed by the end of this year. Informix shares closed at
$4 Wednesday.
Informix officials called the move the latest step in executing
a core growth strategy to build leadership in data warehousing,
high-performance OLTP (online transaction processing) and
Web/e-commerce.
"We intend to offer the market the most comprehensive data
warehousing solutions in the industry," said Bob Finocchio,
Informix chief executive and president in a statement. "Through
this acquisition of Red Brick, we are combining the most powerful
data mart and data warehousing technology and consulting
expertise, outstanding partnerships and expert distribution
channels into one company focused on our customers' success."
Red Brick officials also talked-up the deal.
"The combined strength of Red Brick and Informix will benefit
our customers, partners and stockholders," commented
Christopher Erickson, chief executive and president of Red Brick.
Informix said that when the purchase is complete, Red Brick's
research and development, marketing and data warehouse consulting
organizations will be folded into the Informix Data Warehousing
Division. The Red Brick customer support organization will be
merged with the Informix customer support organization. Red
Brick general and administrative will be combined into parallel
Informix organizations and the Red Brick sales force will move
into the Informix sales organization, according to the company.
Informix has been working to bounce back from its own ills of one
year ago when accounting and management issues combined with
product transitions to slow sales. Up until that point the
developer had been reporting strong growth.
One of Red Brick's shareholders is already attempting to negate
the deal, however. New Valley Corp., which claims to own
approximately 5 percent of the outstanding common stock of Red
Brick, said today that it opposes the proposed acquisition and
issued a statement.
"As a major shareholder of Red Brick Systems, New Valley opposes
the proposed acquisition of Red Brick by Informix," said the
statement. "The Informix proposal for Red Brick is grossly
inadequate, offering a meager current premium in Informix stock
of questionable value, and is not in the best interests of Red
Brick shareholders."
The companies involved said that they would not comment on the
deal further until it had been completed. There was no word
regarding feelings about the transaction among other Red Brick
shareholders.
Red Brick shares fell $0.0625 to $2.188 yesterday. However, the
deal values each Red Brick share at $2.40, a 9.7 percent premium
to its closing price on Friday, according to Informix.
Reported By Newsbytes News Network, newsbytes.com
(19981008/WIRES PC, BUSINESS/)
Companies or Securities discussed in this article:
Symbol Name
NASDAQ:IFMX Informix Corp
NASDAQ:REDB Red Brick Systems Inc
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