TMCnet News
Sun to acquire SeeBeyond for $387 million in cashBy MATTHEW FORDAHL AP Technology Writer (AP) -- Announcing its second major acquisition in less than a month, computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. said Tuesday it will buy business-integration software provider SeeBeyond Technology Corp. for $387 million in cash. The deal is expected to help Sun better profit from its 10-year-old Java programming language, which lets developers build programs that run on multiple computers regardless of operating system and microprocessor. "This is all about how Sun and its shareholders will be able to monetize that market opportunity in a big-time way," said Scott McNealy, Sun's chief executive. SeeBeyond uses Java-based technology in software that helps businesses tie together multiple applications and systems that have been individually developed and don't communicate well with each other. "It's an obvious choice for us," McNealy said. "Business integration, which is a $5 billion market and a top IT spending priority, was a place we needed to play. ... We now jump right to the front of the business-integration market." Under terms of the agreement, Sun will pay SeeBeyond shareholders $4.25 per share in cash, a nearly 30 percent premium to the stock's closing price of $3.28 on Monday. Sun also will assume employee stock options. Shares of SeeBeyond closed at $4.29, up $1.01, or 31 percent, in Tuesday trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Shares of Sun closed at $3.74, up 5 cents, on the Nasdaq. In the 12 months leading to March 2005, SeeBeyond has posted revenue of about $167 million from its 2,000 customers worldwide, Sun said. But the Santa Clara company did not estimate the financial impact of the acquisition. The transaction is expected to close early this fall, subject to regulatory approval and approval by SeeBeyond shareholder. "This is absolutely the next logical step in addressing a huge market opportunity in the enterprise application development space," said Jim Demetriades, Monrovia, Calif.-based SeeBeyond's chief executive. The deal comes less than a month after Sun announced plans to buy Storage Technology Corp., a maker of tape drives and backup software used by companies, businesses and government agencies to store data. Sun also expects that all-cash, $4.1 billion deal to close in the fall. Since the tech boom of the 1990s ended, Sun has faced steep losses and shrinking revenue but managed to maintain more than $7.4 billion in cash and marketable securities, according to its April financial report. |