To: HG who wrote (99330 ) 4/6/2000 3:25:00 PM From: H James Morris Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 164684
Happy, you dumped Peregrine...I think you've become a day trader. >April 6, 2000 Peregrine Systems said yesterday that it will pay $2.1 billion in stock for Atlanta-based Harbinger, a company that facilitates Internet-based transactions for many of America's largest companies. The acquisition is by far the biggest yet for San Diego-based Peregrine, which has steadily expanded beyond its original business of helping companies track and fix problems with computer networks. Last year, Peregrine introduced a new product enabling employees to order equipment such as cellular phones or Palm Pilots via the Internet. The company said one benefit of the Harbinger acquisition would be to streamline the process of ordering those items from suppliers. But Harbinger's focus goes well beyond that; it includes e-commerce Web sites and software that facilitate sales of everything from office supplies to major equipment. The business-to-business sector already generates $45 billion in transactions a year nationwide and is expected to grow rapidly. Peregrine's current products enable companies to keep track of assets they already own, such as computers, phones or trucks, and chief executive Stephen Gardner said it would make sense to combine that software with programs to facilitate the buying and selling of such items. "If you don't have one company providing that, you're going to need five or six vendors married together -- and you as the customer are probably going to end up doing the marrying," Gardner said. After the deal, Peregrine would employ about 2,500 people, more than double the number it has now. The company, whose largest shareholder is Padres owner John Moores, is already building a new headquarters campus in Carmel Valley. Under terms of the deal, Harbinger shareholders will receive three-quarters of a share of Peregrine stock for each Harbinger share, or $43.50 a share at yesterday's closing price. That represents an 80 percent premium over Harbinger's closing price yesterday. Peregrine shares climbed $1.781/8 to close at $58 before the announcement, while Harbinger climbed $2 to close at $24.121/2 before jumping to $34 in after-market trading. Unlike many Internet companies, Harbinger was profitable last year, with net income of $16.6 million on revenue of $155.5 million. The company makes money by selling e-commerce software to companies and by hosting e-commerce marketplaces, where companies buy and sell goods from each other. Also unlike many Internet companies, it is not a new one. It was founded in 1983 with the aim of helping businesses handle transactions electronically and moved its business to the Internet in recent years as that became the standard for such transactions. It has 40,000 customers, Gardner said, including such blue-chip names as AT&T, General Motors, Sears, IBM and Dell Computer. The combined company's customer list will cover more than 90 percent of the Fortune 500.Peregrine reported net income of $130,000 on revenue of $67.5 million in the most recent quarter .