Baltimore finds a buyer for Content

Security software vendor Baltimore has found a buyer for its Content Technologies operation, the company said this morning. The company said that enterprise email management firm Clearswift will acquire the division for £20.5m, subject to shareholder approval.

Baltimore acquired the Content Technologies product line as a result of its £702.5m purchase of Content Technologies Holdings in September 2000, claiming the purchase would create "significant cross-selling opportunities". However, faced with a cash crisis, Baltimore said in August 2001 that they are two "clearly different businesses with limited synergies."

In preparation for a sale, it was hived off as a separate operation -- though stock market estimates suggest that it may now only be worth between £50m and £70m.

Content Technologies makes the MIMEsweeper and MAILsweeper policy-based filtering software, which lets companies protect their networks from malicious or obscene email attachments sent to their users. At the time of the acquisition, Content Technologies has 42 percent of its business in the US, where the demand for content filtering is greatest.

Baltimore needs the money from the sale of its content operation urgently to give it the resources to survive though given its enfeebled state.

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