At least we no longer have to worry about Apple foolishly buying Global Village:
Boca Research to Acquire Global Village Modem Business
BusinessWire, Tuesday, March 31, 1998 at 11:57
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 31, 1998--
Retained Global Village Business to be Restructured Under New
Name and Focus On Growing Small Office Networking Market
Boca Research, Inc. (NASDAQ:BOCI) and Global Village
Communication, Inc. (NASDAQ:GVIL) today announced the signing of a
definitive agreement whereby Boca Research will purchase all of the
assets relating to the Global Village modem business for $10 million
in cash and notes, plus the assumption of certain liabilities.
Boca Research will also receive a warrant to purchase up to
425,000 shares of Global Village common stock. For the calendar year
1997, Global Village had revenues of $68 million, most of which came
from its modem products.
The sale will include a transfer to Boca Research of Global
Village intellectual property, including exclusive rights to the
Global Village name, logo and trademarks, as well as the inventory,
receivables and other assets of the modem business. In addition, the
sale will include Global Village distribution and OEM agreements
associated with the TelePort, PC Cards, GlobalFax, GlobalTransfer, and
FaxWorks personal edition communications products.
It is currently anticipated that Boca Research will finance the
purchase price with cash balances and bank financing. David Manovich,
former senior vice president, international sales and support for
Apple Computer, Inc., has been retained to facilitate the transition
of the Global Village business to Boca Research.
It is anticipated that approximately 60 Global Village
employees will join the Boca Research team. The transaction, which is
subject to approval by stockholders of Global Village and other
standard closing conditions, is expected to close in June 1998.
"The Global Village modem business is an excellent fit with ours
and completely incremental to our revenue," said Tony Zalenski,
president and chief executive officer of Boca Research. "We're taking
advantage of the consolidation occurring in the modem industry while
striving to improve our operation and manufacturing efficiencies,
engineering and product depth, distribution clout and financial
performance. This acquisition is part of our short term tactical plan
to acquire a new customer base and a manufacturing opportunity, adding
volume to our factory. Global Village is the market leader for the
Apple Macintosh modem market, whose customers have come to count on
Global Village for reliability and ease-of-use.
"We also look forward to enhancing our product line with expanded
offerings in the Internet access device and ADSL markets through the
use of key technologies and software engineering expertise we're
acquiring," Zalenski continued. "We plan to leverage the Global
Village name throughout our markets, and we are strongly committed to
the continued support of their customers worldwide. For Global Village
customers, it will be business as usual. We are pleased to welcome
them and the Global Village employees to the Boca Research family," he
concluded. Global Village products will continue to be marketed under
the Global Village name and Boca Research will honor all Global
Village product warranties, upgrades and rebates.
"The reputation of Global village's award-winning communication
products and development teams, coupled with the high manufacturing
volume of Boca Research and breadth of Windows products, creates a
stronger, more powerful entity," said Neil Selvin, president and chief
executive officer of Global Village Communication. "This transition
will ensure that Global Village customers will continue to see an
ongoing stream of new products, engineered with the same attention to
ease of use and reliability that has always been a Global Village
hallmark," said Selvin. "Our modem technology and products, our
distribution channels, and our millions of end users will be in
excellent hands. Both companies anticipate that customers and channel
partners will experience a relatively seamless transition and
integration."
Global village's remaining business will be restructured to focus
on a new communication server family of products designed for use in
small and medium sized offices. (See separate press release "Global
Village Unveils New Corporate Strategy for Small and Medium Office
Networking Market..." issued today, March 31, 1998, at approximately
8:30 a.m. Pacific time/11:30 a.m. Eastern time.) Upon completion of
the transaction, the company will be renamed, and its stock will trade
on NASDAQ under a new ticker symbol. Global Village expects to incur
restructuring charges of approximately $400,000 for severance
compensation associated with a reduction in force of approximately 25
employees. Global Village anticipates that it may incur additional
restructuring-related charges, and the amount of any such charges will
be established as the details of the restructuring are finalized.
Conference Call Scheduled
The management of both companies will host a teleconference to
discuss this news with investors and analysts today at 10:00 a.m.
Pacific time/1:00 p.m. Eastern time. If you would like to listen to
the call, please dial 913/981-5509 approximately 10 minutes in
advance. The conference call can be replayed for 48 hours beginning at
1:00 p.m. Pacific time today by calling 402/220-1022.
About Global Village Communication
With over 8 million customers, Global Village Communication, Inc.
(NASDAQ:GVIL) is a leading supplier of integrated communication
solutions for Windows and Macintosh personal computer users. Global
Village sells its products directly and through leading VARs,
retailers and distributors worldwide. For more information, please
visit the Global Village web site at globalvillage.com.
About Boca Research
Founded in 1985, Boca Research (NASDAQ:BOCI) designs,
manufactures, markets and supports quality, cost-effective data
communications, videoconferencing, multimedia and networking products
to facilitate the transmission of information on personal computers,
computer networks, and the Internet. The company sells its products
worldwide through distributors, original equipment manufacturers
(OEMs) and retailers. Boca Research is a U.S. corporation
headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida with international operations and
ventures worldwide.
Portions of this news release contain forward-looking statements.
Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve
risks and uncertainties. Specifically, the agreement among the parties
is subject to certain closing conditions, including the receipt of
consents for both companies' lenders, no material adverse change in
the companies' businesses, and the approval of Global Village
stockholders.
CONTACT: Global Village
Heidi Palmer, 408/523-2204
heidi_palmer@globalvillage.com
globalvillage.com
or
Boca Research
Gale Blackburn, 561/997-6227 ext. 305
galeb@bocaresearch.com
bocaresearch.com
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA FLORIDA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED
TELECOMMUNICATIONS MERGERS/ACQ
Today's News On The Net - Business Wire's full file on the Internet
with Hyperlinks to your home page.
URL: businesswire.com
Copyright 1998, Business Wire |
