Thursday, February 12, 2009

RIM to Buy Certicom Encryption Maker

RIM wins Certicom bidding war - Computer Business Review

Research In Motion Ltd looks to have won out in its pursuit of Certicom Corp after rival bidder VeriSign Inc announced yesterday that it would not be making any other offers for the encryption software supplier.

Certicom chairman Jeffrey Chisholm said the board had recommended that shareholders accept RIM's sweetened offer, but he has also cautioned that the deal was far from closed.  "While we fully expect that this deal will go ahead, it's not over until it's over," he is quoted as saying in the local Canadian press.

RIM tabled a $105 million cash offer for Certicom last week, which was almost double what the company had originally staked back in December, and 40% more than the price being mooted by VeriSign.

RIM already uses Certicom encryption programmes to secure its BlackBerry line and the technology is seen as vital to the continued development of the mobile email favourite.

The acquisition is regarded as being highly strategic for RIM as it would help accelerate take up of the Blackberry device by government and public sector authorities, which insist on hardened security in mobile systems.


The market also expects the popular hand-held device could be developed into a platform for digital wallets and secure m-commerce.

Certicom has confirmed that it is to pay a $3.25 million break-up fee to VeriSign.



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