Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Microsoft To Acquire FAST

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corp. said Tuesday that it is making an offer to acquire Fast Search & Transfer ASA, an Oslo, Norway provider of enterprise search software. The deal is worth approximately $1.2 billion. According to the firms, the cash deal is worth 19.00 Norwegian kroner per share. Orkla ASA and Hermes Focus Asset Management Europe, FAST's two largest institutional shareholders, have accepted the offer, and FAST's board of directors said that it has unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the offer. FAST develops software used for indexing and searching corporate data.