On Sunday, it was
announced that Intel would buy Telemap, a developer of map software
for an undisclosed fee, estimated to be in the region of $300
million. Despite this move creating an alternative to the services of
firms such as Nokia and Google, the tech giants closed down 3.4% the
following day. On Monday, Pharmaceutical Product Development was
purchased by the Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman for $3.9
billion. This is the latest in a string of large private equity
buyouts in the healthcare industry since the credit crunch. The
pharmaceutical research company was boosted by 25.8%, reflecting the
large premium being paid. Best Buy sold music sharing service
Napster to its competitor Rhapsody. At one time Napster dominated the
p2p market, but subsequently ran into difficulty over copyright
infringement. The terms were not disclosed. The electronics retailer
fell 5% on the news. Agco bought GSI Holdings for $940 million.
Despite this decision expanding their business into the grain storage
and protein production market, the agricultural giant dropped 6.3%.
It was announced that ACI Worldwide would takeover S1 Corporation, a provider of
financial software solutions, in a deal valued at $516 million. The
buyer hopes to create a global leader in payments solutions. The
markets reacted negatively to the news; the target shrunk by 1.2% as
ACI lost 8.3%. Also that day, McGraw-Hill Companies said in after
hours announcement that they would sell their broadcasting unit to
media firm E.W. Scripps to $212 million in an all-cash deal. The
latest in a series of spin-offs designed to improve its share price
and refocus attention on its business information unit. The buyer
closed 1.5% lower on Tuesday, while the information services giant
grew 2.9%. The next major deal came on Thursday, when Blackstone’s
GSO Capital Partners acquired Harbourmaster Capital, a European
leveraged loan manager, for an undisclosed price. The asset
management company was up 7.2%. The following day, Nuance
Communications purchased Swype, creators of touch screen text
solutions, for $102.5 million. The bidder ended the day 1.4% lower.
