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To: Gary Korn who wrote (13736)	12/4/1999 2:55:00 PM
From: Gary Korn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14631

12/3/99 Austl. Fin. Rev. 66 1999 WL 28351268 Australian Financial Review Copyright of John Fairfax Group Pty Ltd Friday, December 3, 1999 Computers Database Rivals In $1.39bn Stock Swap Wall Street Journal And Grant Butler Database-software maker Informix Corporation has agreed to buy its rival, Ardent Software Inc, in a stock swap that the companies valued about $US880 million ($1.39 billion). Ardent specialises in data-management software. Informix, which makes corporate-database programs, said each Ardent share would be exchanged for 3.5 of its shares and that it would assume all outstanding Ardent options. Both companies have substantial operations in Australia. Informix, in particular, employs 70 staff and works for companies such as AC Neilsen, Macquarie Bank, the NSW Police and Telstra. Informix said the transaction was expected to boost to Informix's earnings per share in 2000 and was expected to occur in the first quarter, subject to the approval of stockholders of both companies and customary regulatory reviews. If combined, the two firms would have totalled about $US1 billion in revenue in 1999, Informix chief executive Mr Jean-Yves Dexmier said. Informix had revenue of about $US620 million in the first nine months, while Ardent posted revenue of about $US120 million. Informix has been moving to take advantage of the explosive rise of the internet by creating software products that target electronic-commerce businesses which it dubs the "i.economy". "It's a good, complementary product line," said Hambrecht & Quist Inc analyst Mr Jim Pickrel said. Informix "didn't have a product in the [data warehousing] space before." "Ardent's products allow data of all kinds to be integrated from anywhere, including ... web content, while Informix's business-intelligence engines excel at managing large volumes of content-rich data typical of the internet," said Mr Peter Gyenes, Ardent's chairman, president and chief executive, in a statement. The deal was announced early on Wednesday. On Tuesday, shares of Ardent added US56.25cents to $US26.25, while shares of Informix slipped US12.5cents to $US11, both on the Nasdaq stockmarket. Informix shares, which traded as high as $US35 in late 1995, collapsed to around $US4 after the company in mid-1997 disclosed some accounting irregularities that had inflated its revenues and profits. The scandal forced the company to restate its earnings for 1995 to 1997, resulted in a shake-out of top management and prompted a dozen shareholder-fraud lawsuits, which were recently settled for $US142 million. ---- INDEX REFERENCES ---- COMPANY (TICKER): Informix Corp.; Ardent Software Inc.; A.MCQ (IFMX ARDT A.MCQ) NEWS SUBJECT: Internet: World Wide Web; Internet (IWWW NET) INDUSTRY: Computers; Software; Banks, Regional Non-U.S.; All Banks (CPR SOF BAF BNK) Word Count: 356 12/3/99 AUSTRLFIN 66 END OF DOCUMENT