20 Jun 05. Ericsson hereby announces that it will make a voluntary cash offer to acquire 100% of the outstanding shares of AXXESSIT ASA, a Norwegian based advanced technology company that develops, produces and markets integrated access devices and multi-service provisioning platforms for next generation access and metro networks. Ericsson will offer NOK 28.50 in cash per AXXESSIT share, corresponding to a premium of 43.9% per share. The value of the offer totals NOK 330m ($51m). AXXESSIT’s products strengthen Ericsson’s offering in the Ethernet/Metro segment. The Board of AXXESSIT recommends the offer and the largest shareholders are positive to the offer. The acquisition will improve Ericsson’s prospects for sales growth in this segment. However, marginal effects on Ericsson’s key ratios for 2005.
22 Jun 05. The Boeing Co. said it will record $350 million in pretax losses related to the $900m sale of its Commercial Airplanes facilities in the Midwest to Onex Partners LP, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Boeing (NYSE: BA – News) said it will recognize about $100 million of the noncash loss in the current second quarter. The balance, which relates to pension and post-retirement curtailments and settlement, will be recognized in the third quarter.
22 Jun 05. Ultra Electronics said June 22 that trade was on course to meet analysts’ expectations for underlying profit of around £46m ($84m) in 2005. “The order book at the end of June is expected to be over £400m, representing the equivalent of about 14 months of future sales and giving a normal level of earnings visibility,” Ultra said in a statement. Ultra specializes in manufacturing electronic equipment for battlefield radios, combat aircraft equipment and precision guided weapons. Shares in Ultra, which counts the British and United States military as customers, have boomed since the start of the Iraq war in March 2003. Last week they touched an all-time high of 830 pence. On June 22, Ultra shares opened 1.1 percent higher at 800 pence, valuing the firm at around £534m. But while Ultra’s share price has almost doubled over the past 2 years, it has underperformed the British defense sector by a fifth over the period. (REUTERS/Defense News)
22 Jun 05. John Thompson is no stranger to controversial acquisitions. Symantec, the security software company he heads, ventured out of the consumer business into the corporate market in 2000 with the purchase of Axent Technologies a deal that wiped 50 per cent off Symantec’s stock price as shareholders worried it had overpaid. The proposed purchase of Veritas, which will be voted on by shareholders of both companies on Friday, has stirred similar fears. The biggest deal in software history, with a value of $10.7bn, will link Symantec’s fast-growing security business to the less dynamic storage software market where Veritas operates. The prospect of slower growth and the difficulty of combining two big companies with very different products has left Wall Street in a sour mood. Observers reason that if Symantec is forced to consider deals such as this, then maybe the outlook in its core security market is not so bright after all. (Source: FT)
22 Jun 05. Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESLT – News) reported, following media publicity on the matter, that it is considering with Koor Industries Ltd. (Koor) (NYSE: KOR – News), among other matters, the possibility of acquiring Koor’s holdings in Elisra Electronic Systems Ltd; however, no agreement on this subject has yet been reached. Elbit Systems also reported that the process is progressing for completing the second stage of its agreement with Koor for the purchase of Koor’s shares of Tadiran Communications.
21 Jun 05. Electronic Data Systems Corp. is in talks to sell its A.T. Kearney management-consulting unit to Monitor Group Inc., a consulting and investment firm, according to people familiar with the situation. EDS told A.T. Kearney executives it