Actian Corporation and Versant Corporation, both real-time information management software providers, have announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement through which Actian will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Versant for $13 per share in cash for a purchase price of approximately $37 million. Versant's board of directors unanimously approved the Actian acquisition agreement.
"Versant and Actian have complementary businesses," said Bernhard Woebker, Versant's president and CEO. "We believe we can leverage our combined strength in managing complex information in environments that demand high performance to lead in the business intelligence and analytics market. This merger will also deliver premium value and liquidity to Versant's shareholders."
Prior to entering into the Actian Acquisition Agreement, Versant terminated its previous merger agreement with Unicom and, in accordance with that agreement, Versant will pay a termination fee of $750,000. According to the companies, Actian's $13 per share cash purchase price represents a premium of approximately 13% over the $11.50 per share price contemplated by the prior merger agreement with Unicom, and a 32% premium over Versant's closing price of $9.85 per share on the last trading day before announcement of the prior agreement with Unicom.
The Actian acquisition agreement provides for the merger of Versant with a subsidiary of Actian, and the transaction is currently expected to close in Versant's first fiscal quarter ending January 31, 2013. Following completion of the transaction, Versant will be wholly owned by Actian and its stock will no longer trade on the NASDAQ.
For more information, visit www.versant.com and www.actian.com.