TMCnet News
CDC Announces Acquisition Of Vis.alignBy David Sims TMCnet Contributing Editor The acquisition will augment CDC's infrastructure and application optimization, application development and outsourced managed services. Bill Geist, senior vice president, Technical Services, of CDC Software, said Vis.align has "impressive expertise in our target industries, their services complement our Ross Enterprise and Pivotal CRM product lines, and the depth and breadth of our global operations will significantly expand the footprint of Vis.align's managed services business worldwide." Geist said managed services "now appeal to companies of all sizes," they expect to "expand sales opportunities and improve revenue visibility." Vis.align "complements the strengths of CDC Software," said Jennifer Horrocks, CEO and founder of Vis.align. "This will enable our businesses to cross-sell products and services worldwide." With over $20 million in sales during 2005, Vis.align is anticipated to be earnings accretive to CDC Corporation in 2007. The transaction was structured to include a two-year earn-out running through to December 31, 2008 based on Vis.align achieving certain revenue milestones. The earn-out, if achieved, is to be paid in a combination of cash and shares in CDC Corporation. In late November China.com Inc., a Hong Kong listed subsidiary of CDC Corporation, announced that its shareholders approved the acquisition by CDC Mobile of Timeheart at an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders. The transaction, classified as a "very substantial acquisition" under Hong Kong securities regulations, requires shareholders' approval. The transaction was unanimously approved at the shareholders' meeting with over 3.3 billion shares voting in favor of the acquisition. Timeheart is a Mobile Valued Added Service provider in China, operating since 2001 and provides a full suite of MVAS products through personal digital assistant, wireless application protocol, multi media service, interactive voice response  , short message service and media stream with connectivity at both the national and provincial levels of all four telecom operators in China. CDC Mobile is the wholly owned subsidiary of China.com Inc. The CDC family of companies includes CDC Software focused on CRM and other enterprise software applications and services, including CRM vendor Pivotal. Earlier China.com announced its Web 2.0 Developer Program, which includes $20 million allocated for investment in selected web development partners. China.com will seek to "establish strategic relationships with leading local Web 2.0 companies to accelerate the development of innovative products and services targeted specifically for the China market," according to company officials at the time. David Sims is contributing editor for TMCnet. For more articles please visit David Sims’ columnist page. |