Acquirer IQ

OpTier looks to form a supergroup

The business transaction management vendor has raised an additional $47.5m in a fourth round of funding and is clearly on a mission to grow through acquisitions.

29 Sep 2008
William Fellows

Target IQ

Hedge fund's push a hard sell at Epicor

Don't tell Elliott Associates that ERP consolidation has already played itself out. The hedge fund recently took a large chunk of Epicor and has begun stirring for a sale. However, we don't see an obvious buyer of the pioneering ERP vendor.

24 Sep 2008
Brenon Daly

Acquirer IQ

Transformed LSI is not yet done with M&A

LSI has been active in buying and selling business units and its financial outlook appears strong. Expect the company to continue to seek M&A opportunities.

23 Sep 2008
Greg Quick
Simon Robinson

Deal Analysis

Serena bolsters hosted project management offering with Projity buy

Serena has made its second acquisition of a project management vendor, buying Projity, which offers a dual hosted and open source business model. The company should broaden its customer base with the deal.

23 Sep 2008
Dennis Callaghan

Deal Analysis

McAfee doubles down on the network, takes out Secure Computing

With its fourth deal in less than a year, McAfee picks up long-struggling Secure Computing. The acquisition should bolster McAfee's firewall product while also adding to its Web and email security offering. It's certain to keep McAfee's engineers busy.

22 Sep 2008
Paul Roberts
Brenon Daly

M&A Insight

Transmeta: No money? No credit? No problem

Want to buy a chip technology company, but don't have the money? No problem. Thanks to Intel, Transmeta has plenty of cash to finance the sale of itself. Bankers are standing by for your call.

25 Sep 2008
Brenon Daly

M&A Insight

Does Microsoft's 'paper' trail lead to Citrix?

A day after Redmond says it's tapping the debt market, rumors start flying that it is prepping a bid for Citrix. As we dismiss this rumor, we also plan to go back and refresh our understanding of the difference between causality and coincidence.

24 Sep 2008
Brenon Daly

M&A Insight

Uptake in travel deals

Despite economic woes in the overall travel industry, one part of the market is still surging. Online travel portals are doing better than ever. But increased competition and consolidation are forcing many to either seek an exit or bulk up.

23 Sep 2008
Thomas Rasmussen

M&A Insight

Preferred gets preference

Warburg Pincus emerged as Secure Computing's biggest shareholder when it helped the company pay for a large deal it inked. Even though the stock has lost 60% of its value since then, Warburg came out ahead when McAfee bought Secure. How did it do that?

22 Sep 2008
Brenon Daly

M&A Insight

Showdown set for Aladdin's lamp

Vector Capital has emerged as the largest shareholder of security firm Aladdin – and it now wants the whole thing. The company doesn't want to sell, at least not at this time and this price. Shareholders will have their say on a proxy contest in a month.

19 Sep 2008
Brenon Daly