Symantec yesterday (15 December) announced it will buy
storage supplier Veritas for £6.9bn.
The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2005.
Symantec shareholders will own about 60% of the merged company
which will retain the Symantec name the companies said in a joint
announcement.
Veritas sells back-up, archiving and file system software and
Symantec sells software to protect home and office computer systems
and networks, including firewalls and tools to detect viruses and
network intrusions. By joining forces, they will be able to help
enterprise customers secure their information better, the companies
said.
About three-quarters of the combined company's revenue will come
from enterprise products and services, they said.
Symantec chairman and chief executive John Thompson will
continue in that role, and his opposite number at Veritas, Gary
Bloom, will become vice-chairman and president of the combined
company. The new board will be composed of 10 members, six chosen
from Symantec's board and four from the Veritas board, the
companies said.
Both boards of directors have approved the deal, which now
requires the approval of regulators and of the shareholders of both
companies. Symantec has offered Veritas stockholders 1.1242
Symantec shares for each Veritas share they hold.
With Symantec's stock price standing at £14.12 when the market
closed on Wednesday, that values the deal at about £6.9bn, the
companies said.
This is not Symantec's first acquisition this year, although it
is by far the largest. It announced plans to acquire anti-spam
software company Brightmail for £190m in May, and security
consultant @Stake. Last week, it announced plans to acquire
intrusion system Platform Logic.
Peter Sayer writes for the IDG News Service
