Today's Deals: Hocus Pocus, InfoSpace Buys Locus

 Allaire (ALLR) acquires Kawa Java unit

   *  Amount:         $9 million

   *  Terms:            100% cash

   *  Premium:        n/a

   *  Industry:        Performance software

   *  Scorecard:      B-

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6--Allaire Corporation, a provider of software for companies building their business on the Web, announced that it has acquired the critically-acclaimed Kawa Java integrated development environment (IDE) from Tek-Tools.With more than 30,000 paid licensees, Kawa is a widely adopted IDE for Java programming and its addition to the Allaire Business Platform is expected to give Allaire the ability to offer customers powerful visual tools for building advanced web applications on the industry-standard J2EE platform. The deal is valued at $9 million in cash.

 

 C-bridge Internet Solutions (CBIS) acquires BEKK Consulting A/S

   *  Amount:         $13 million

   *  Premium:        n/a

   *  Industry:        Consultants/Designers

   *  Scorecard:      B

CAMBRIDGE, Nov. 6--C-bridge Internet Solutions , the originator of the iSolutions approach to e-Enterprise consulting and services, announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire BEKK Consulting A/S, a Norwegian eBusiness professional services firm. The BEKK acquisition is expected to put C-bridge on the forefront of the business of deploying m-Commerce to fulfill strategic business requirements, and enables C-bridge to capitalize on the growing market opportunity presented by wireless technology. The total cost at the time of the acquisition is anticipated to be $13,000,000, with $3,911,029 to be paid in cash and the balance to be paid in shares of C-bridge common stock.

 

 InfoSpace (INSP) to acquire Locus Dialogue

   *  Amount:         $100-125 million

   *  Terms:            4.3 - 5.5 million shares

   *  Premium:        n/a

   *  Industry:        Content/Communities

   *  Scorecard:      B

BELLEVUE, Wash., Nov. 6--InfoSpace, a global provider of cross-platform merchant and consumer infrastructure services on wireless, broadband, and narrowband platforms, announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Montreal-based Locus Dialogue, a developer of speech recognition-enabled applications. The acquisition signals InfoSpace's strong entry into the speech-enabled application market, positioning InfoSpace to speech-enable a wide variety of existing wireless applications, with the addition of Locus Dialogue's core speech recognition technologies and speech-enabled applications that have been in development for more than 14 years. InfoSpace will issue approximately 4.3 million to 5.5 million shares of its common stock for the Montreal, Canada-based enterprise, based on a formula to be calculated at the time of the acquisition's completion.

 

 I-many (IMNY) to acquire ChiCor Information Management

   *  Amount:         $9.9 million

   *  Terms:            cash and stock

   *  Premium:        n/a

   *  Industry:        E-commerce enablers

   *  Scorecard:      B-

PORTLAND, Maine, Nov. 6--I-many announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire ChiCor Information Management, the developer of Trade Funds Management System(TM), Deductions Management System(TM) and SettleLink.net(SM), the first Internet-based exchange for collaborative trade funds and deductions management. I-many expects the acquisition to rapidly expand its presence in the consumer product goods market, fortify its position in the healthcare industry, and fuel its penetration into additional vertical markets. I-many has agreed to pay $9.9 million in cash and I-many stock, plus a performance-based earn-out targeted at $4.6 million in cash and stock.

 

 VerticalNet (VERT) to acquire SierraCities

   *  Amount:         $133 million

   *  Terms:            100% stock

   *  Premium:        n/a

   *  Industry:        E-commerce enablers

   *  Scorecard:      A-

HORSHAM, Pa., Nov. 6--VerticalNet, a leading Internet business-to-business e-commerce enabler, announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire SierraCities.com , which offers one of the Internet's fastest and most comprehensive business credit solutions. SierraCities.com, which will operate as VerticalNet Credit, will add the key functionality of enabling credit and financing solutions to VerticalNet's horizontal offerings across its 57 industry-specific online marketplaces, giving VerticalNet an ideal platform for providing Web-based credit solutions to its target markets. SierraCities will be acquired for $7.00 per share, or an aggregate of $133 million, payable in VerticalNet stock.

 

 On2.com (ONT) acquires Eight Cylinder Studios

   *  Amount:         Undisclosed

   *  Terms:            n/a

   *  Premium:        n/a

   *  Industry:        Internet services

   *  Scorecard:      C+

NEW YORK, Nov. 6--On2.com, broadband technology and services provider specializing in the delivery of TV-quality streaming video over the Internet, announced that it has closed on its acquisition of Eight Cylinder Studios, a San Francisco-based interactive broadband 3D technology and services company. On2's acquisition of Eight Cylinders is expected to enable On2 to offer customers the most compelling product mix in broadband today: On2's full-motion, full-screen, TV-quality streaming plus the premier broadband-specific 3D interactive technology for which Eight Cylinders is well known. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

 

 Network Systems Int'l (NESI) acquires interLAN Communications

   *  Amount:         Undisclosed

   *  Terms:            250,000 shares/cash

   *  Premium:        n/a

   *  Industry:        Internet services

   *  Scorecard:      C+

HERNDON, Va., Nov. 6--Network Systems International announced that it has acquired interLAN Communications of Herndon, Virginia. interLAN is a provider of data communications and networking infrastructure solutions and consulting for business, government and education and was acquired for cash and 250,000 shares of stock.