VeriSign to acquire Certicom for $73 million

VeriSign and Certicom announced today that VeriSign will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Certicom for $92 million Canadian, or roughly $73 million U.S. at $2.10 Canadian ($1.67 U.S.) per share.

Certicom Corp. provides cryptography solutions for software vendors and device manufacturers to embed security in their products primarily in North America, Asia, and internationally. VeriSign, Inc. provides infrastructure services that enable and protect interactions of voice, video, and data networks worldwide.

With the acquisition of Certicom, VeriSign says it will gain a leadership position in Elliptic Curve Cryptography technology, a highly-efficient form of public-key encryption. Together, VeriSign and Certicom expect to leverage VeriSign's reach to pursue emerging market opportunities in which ECC can efficiently enable secure data communications, the companies said.

In total, the purchase is C$92 million, or roughly U.S. $73 million -- or C$50 million/US$40 million net of Certicom's existing cash and short-term marketable securities.

The price represents a premium of approximately 26% over the closing price of Certicom's common shares yesterday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. It also represents a premium of approximately 40% over an unsolicited takeover bid for the Common Shares, prior to its termination, by a wholly owned subsidiary of Research in Motion Limited.