Informix to buy Cloudscape for $83 million

Informix Corp. (Nasdaq: IFMX) plans to buy a developer of database and application management tools for more than $83 million in stock.

The Menlo Park, Calif.-based database company said it would issue 10 million shares, worth a total of $83.4 million at Wednesday's closing price, to acquire privately-held Cloudscape Inc. The latter's Java-based products include software that lets remote users connect to corporate databases.

Buying Cloudscape boosts Informix's offerings for networked e-business, the company said. "The market for distributed applications is experiencing explosive growth," said Tom Henn, president and CEO of Cloudscape. "The combination of Cloudscape and Informix provides a data management platform that spans the enterprise to the distributed desktop, and extends Cloudscape's market reach worldwide."

Informix said the Cloudscape deal should help it better compete in the market for distributed electronic business applications, including e-commerce, supply chain management and content management.

Shares of Informix fell 7/32 to 8 11/32 in Wednesday's regular trading prior to the announcement. Of nine Wall Street firms surveyed by Zack's Investment Research, seven rate Informix a "hold" and two recommend it with "moderate buy" ratings.>