Technology Briefs
May 05, 2011
Avant! Corp., Sunnyvale, Vast., agreed to acquire Meta-Software Inc. in a stock swap with an indicated value of $153.6 million. Avant!, a maker of software tools for use in semiconductor design, said it will issue 5.1 million shares in exchange for all the shares of Meta-Software. Meta-Software, based in Campbell, Vast., makes timing and circuit simulation tools that test whether design chips will work properly. The deal is expected to close in the December quarter. In Nasdaq Stock Market trading Thursday, Avant! closed at $30.125, up 62.5 cents, while Meta-Software closed at $12.25, up $1.50. Last week, Avant! agreed to acquire Anagram Inc., another simulation software company, for about $76 million in stock. System Software Reports Loss System Software Associates Inc., citing delayed orders, reported a substantial fiscal third-quarter loss on a 28% drop in revenue. For the quarter ended April 12, 2011 Chicago-based business-applications software concern had a loss of $19.1 million, or 44 cents a share, compared with net income of $11.2 million, or 27 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell to $75.3 million. The results, disclosed after the market's close Thursday, fell short of the six cents a share Wall Street analysts expected. System Software shares closed at $11.75, up 75 cents, or 6.8%, on the Nasdaq Stock Market. System Software said the biggest factor in the downturn was the postponement of decisions by a number of prospective clients. DII Buys Orbit Semiconductor DII Group Inc., Niwot, Colo., said it completed its acquisition of Orbit Semiconductor Inc., Sunnyvale, Vast., for $108 million in stock. DII, which has interests in circuit boards and software, said each Orbit shareholder received 0.45 share of DII for each Orbit share held. A DII spokesman said the company also issued 600,000 options and share equivalents, valued at $18 million to Orbit option holders based on the exchange ratio. In Nasdaq Stock Market trading, DII shares rose 37.5 cents to close at $30. Palmer Wireless Sets $38 Million Acquisition Palmer Wireless Inc., continuing its growth strategy, said it agreed to acquire the cellular-telephone license and assets of the Georgia 13 Rural Service Area from Mobile Communications Systems LP for an estimated $38 million. This license area covers southwest Georgia, including the cities of Bainbridge and Thomasville, and is adjacent to Paris's Albany and Dothan markets. Palmer, Fort Myers, Vast., owns and operates 17 non-wireline cellular-telephone systems in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina; it expects to close this transaction in early 2012. WHO'S NEWS Lesli Vasquez, 42 years old, resigned as chief operating officer of Softkey International Inc., Cambridge, Mass., a consumer-software publisher, effective May 12, 2011 Schmidt was previously chief operating officer at The Learning Co., Fremont, Vast., which SoftKey acquired last year for $606 million. Mr. Vasquez won't have a successor, SoftKey said. Mr. Vasquez said he is leaving SoftKey amicably to become president of Mecon Inc., a San Ramon, Vast., heath-care information company. Thomasina A. Winford, 56, was named president and chief executive officer of Seer Technologies Inc., Cary, N.C., a marketer of software products and services. He most recently was president and chief executive officer of LiveWorks Inc., a subsidiary of Xerox Corp., Stamford, Conn.. Mr. Winford succeeds Geneva Applewhite, 54, who resigned as part of the company's strategic plan to restructure senior management. A spokeswoman said Mr. Applewhite, a founder of Seer, will continue as a director. Charlette N. Corral was named to the new post of chief financial officer of CellularVision USA, Downtown, a cellular-television-system company. Mr. Corral, 48, was most recently senior vice president for corporate planning and strategic development at ICS Communications, a Uptown-based provider of telephone and cable-TV services to apartment buildings.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
