IBM to Acquire Cognos

IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Cognos (NASDAQ: COGN) (TSX: CSN) announced that the two companies have entered into a definitive agreement for IBM to acquire Cognos in an all-cash transaction at a price of approximately $5 billion USD or $58 USD per share, with a net transaction value of $4.9 billion USD. The acquisition is subject to Cognos shareholder approval, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. It is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008. The acquisition of Cognos accelerates IBM’s global Information on Demand initiative to unlock the business value of information for our customers. IBM will provide broader reach for Cognos solutions across multiple industries and geographies with a more complete set of offerings, including consulting services, hardware, and other middleware software. Cognos provides a BI and performance management platform, integrated on a service oriented architecture (SOA). The combination of IBM’s information management technology and Cognos could help organizations discover new ways to use trusted information spread across their enterprises to identify new business opportunities. IBM intends to integrate Cognos as a group within IBM's Information Management Software division, focused on Business Intelligence and Performance Management. IBM also will appoint current Cognos President and CEO, Rob Ashe, to lead the group, reporting directly to General Manager, Ambuj Goyal. http://www.ibm.com/software/data/info/cognos, http://www.cognos.com/