Thames Tech Wire - May 3, 2005
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THAMES TECH WIRE - May 3, 2005
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o Microgen Makes Improved £51.3-Million Offer for AttentiV
o Japan's For-Side.com to Acquire iTouch for £180 Million
o U.K.-Based Flomerics Acquires Hungary-Based MicReD
o U.K.-Based Pipex Acquires Donhost for Undisclosed Sum
o U.K.-Based Claranet to Buy Via Net.Works for £14 Million
o Briefly Noted: 3i Group-Closures in Birmingham and Reading,
Bango-Peter Saxton, Willtek Communications-Manchester Area Office
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o Microgen Makes Improved £51.3-Million Offer for AttentiV
London -- Microgen, a U.K.-based systems and services group, has
made a £53.1-million cash and shares bid for AttentiV, a U.K.-based
financial software firm. AttentiV's board of directors announced on
Tuesday that it would support the Microgen bid over a rival £46.6-
million bid made earlier this month by TietoEnator, a financial IT
services firm based in the Nordic region. "The combination of
Microgen and AttentiV will establish a significant U.K. supplier of
software and solutions to the financial services sector," said Microgen
Chairman Martyn Ratcliffe. "This increased scale and broader range of
offerings should provide benefit to shareholders, customers and
employees of the enlarged group." Microgen supplies business
processing software and consultancy services to the U.K. financial
market sector.
http://www.finextra.com/fullstory.asp?id=13457
http://makeashorterlink.com/?N25D2220B
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o Japan's For-Side.com to Acquire iTouch for £180 Million
Dublin -- Aiming to make inroads into the European market, For-
side.com, a Japan-based mobile ringtones firm, has agreed to acquire
U.K.-based rival iTouch for approximately £180 million. Independent
News & Media Plc (INM), an Ireland-based newspaper group, received
about 100 million euro (£68 million) for its 37% stake in iTouch,
making a 75-million-euro (£51 million) profit with the exit. INM
emphasised that the deal was not driven by the company itself, but
rather by iTouch. "The iTouch management was aware that it had to
grow very rapidly or be taken over," said iTouch Chairman Ivan Fallon.
"They felt that the best thing for the company was to go with that offer,
and INM decided not to stand in the way."
http://www.itouch.co.uk/
http://for-side.com/jp/contents.html
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o U.K.-Based Flomerics Acquires Hungary-Based MicReD
Budapest -- Flomerics, a U.K.-based software firm, announced that it
has acquired MicReD, a Hungary-based spin-out from the Budapest
University of Technology and Economics, for an undisclosed sum.
Flomerics and MicReD worked together for several years on the
European Comission-funded PROFIT research project to develop
transient thermal models of chip packages. "What's particularly
interesting about MicReD's approach is just how flexible the
instrumentation and software are," said Flomerics Research Manager
John Parry. MicReD's main product is the T3Ster, which provides
thermal characterisation of IC devices, including stacked-die and
system-in-package devices. Organisations already using the T3Ster
include IBM, Infineon, Intel, Nokia, Philips, Samsung and ST.
Microelectronics
http://makeashorterlink.com/?T12B2620B
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o U.K.-Based Pipex Acquires Donhost for Undisclosed Sum
London -- Pipex Communications Plc, a U.K.-based Internet service
provider (ISP), announced that it has acquired Donhost, a U.K.-based
dedicated and shared hosting and domain name firm, for an undisclosed
sum. Donhost is a web hosting company that provides shared and
dedicated servers, domain name registration and Internet access to
business and residential customers in the U.K. "Having completed the
integration of Host Europe and Nildram over the last eight months, we
are now well placed to further strengthen the hosting part of our
portfolio with the acquisition of Donhost," said Pipex CEO Mike Read.
"With an established reseller offering, Donhost augments our existing
product set to extend our relationships with the reseller community and
reach new customers."
http://makeashorterlink.com/?F21B1120B
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o U.K.-Based Claranet to Buy Via Net.Works for £14 Million
Atlanta -- Via Net.Works, a U.S.-based provider of business
communications services, announced that it will be acquired by
Claranet, a U.K.-based Internet service provider (ISP) that targets
business customers. The acquisition is priced at £14 million (20.5
million euro) in cash. Claranet has also agreed to provide a £3.7-million
(5.4 million euro) bridge loan to Via Net.Works, which offers web
hosting, security, connectivity, networks, voice and professional
services, to carry the company through the closing of the deal. "The
combination of Via and Claranet builds on the group's success over the
past nine years to create a formidable competitor in the pan-European
communications market," said Claranet CEO Charles Nasser.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?I6391220B
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o Computer Chip Sales Worldwide Increase by 13% in 1st Qtr
San Jose, California -- Worldwide sales of semiconductors grew by
13.2% in the most recent quarter compared with a year ago, according
to new figures from the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
Computer-chip sales totalled £43 billion, also up about half a percent
from the previous quarter. "Worldwide sales of semiconductors
continued to outpace forecasted levels," said SIA President George
Scalise. "The first quarter is historically a relatively weak one for the
microchip industry. The SIA credited higher-than-expected sales of
wireless handsets, personal computers, and consumer electronics and
said that the unexpected strength of semiconductor sales -- with 13%
growth over a very strong period a year ago -- was a good sign for the
industry.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050502/25318.html?.v=1
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o Briefly Noted:
(Birmingham, England) U.K.-based 3i Group, the largest publicly
traded venture capital firm in Europe, announced that it is planning to
shut down its divisions in Birmingham and Reading. Although 3i will
continue to operate a support services office on the outskirts of
Birmingham, the company's central office there will close in June, with
half its team relocating to London and half facing redundancy. The
company's division in Reading is also facing a number of redundancies.
3i currently has regional offices in Manchester, Leeds and Bristol.
http://www.3i.com/
(London) Bango, a U.K.-based mobile-Internet content firm,
announced that it has appointed Peter Saxton as its new chief financial
officer, effective immediately. Saxton has held a number of positions
with PayPoint, a branded utility bill payment company, and Nexus
Payment Systems, a provider of LINK ATM network services. "Bango
is in a rapid growth phase as more and more people download
entertainment content to their mobile phone and use the Bango Service
to get to and pay for this content," said Bango CEO Ray Anderson.
"(Saxton) will help us focus on maintaining tight cost controls during
this exciting period of the company's development and brings valuable
knowledge of building settlement processes."
http://bango.com/news/releases/82_petersaxton.pdf
(Manchester, England) Willtek Communications GmbH, a Germany-
based provider of test and measurement services to the wireless
industry, announced that it has opened an office in Cheadle Hulme,
England, near Manchester. The new office will serve as the base for
Willtek's U.K. operations. Willtek said the office would provide the
sales, repair, calibration and support services previously provided from
its facility in Chessington. Willtek -- which has divisions in
Indianapolis, Indiana; Roissy, France; Shanghai and Singapore -- said it
made the decision to relocate to outside Manchester in order to be
closer to the majority of its customers.
http://www.willtek.com/english
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