VeriSign buys Certicom for $73 Million

Certicom agreed to be acquired by VeriSign less than a week after Research In Motion ended its hostile takeover bid for the company, which specializes in wireless VPN security and encryption.

The $1.68 per share offer represents a 20 percent premium on Certicom's closing stock price on the Toronto Stock Exchange Thursday and a 40 percent increase over RIM's $1.19 per share, or $52.4 million, hostile offer. The deal is valued at $73 million. Certicom's board is recommending shareholders accept the offer at a meeting to be held in March.

VeriSign, based in California, is an infrastructure vendor for voice, video and data networks. Certicom rolled out the first wireless VPN for cellphones in 2002 and has worked with a variety of handset makers, including Motorola.

Certicom received an injunction from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to stop RIM's bid because RIM and its subsidiary had violated a nondisclosure agreements that Certicom and RIM had made in 2007 and 2008 by using confidential information from Certicom to make its bid.  

For more:
- see this article [1]
- see this article [2]

Related Articles:
RIM [3] ends bid for Certicom
Certicom [4] to shareholders: reject RIM bid
RIM [5] to oppose Certicom's efforts to block acquisition
RIM [6] makes bid for Certicom's cell phone security business