News

Veritas-Precise deal still on

• By Michael W. Bucken
• March 12, 2003

The Veritas Software acquisition of Precise Software is still expected to close by mid-year despite the Mountain View, Calif.-based buyer's plan to restate earnings over the past three years.

When the $537 million deal was disclosed late last year, officials promised a second quarter closing, with hopes the process would be completed by mid-May 2003. With the January decision by Veritas (http://www.veritas.com) to restate earnings due to accounting changes in contracts with AOL Time Warner, the acquisition is now expected to close by June 30, said officials at Precise (http://www.precise.com).

In January, Veritas disclosed plans to restate the financial results of multiple licensing and advertising deals with AOL Time Warner. At the time, Veritas officials projected that the move would cut revenue over the restatement period by between $15 million and $20 million and boost its losses by about $7 million. The restated figures are due to be submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission by March 31.

''We always said it would close in Q2 [2003],'' said Precise Corporate Communications Director Kevin Rudden. ''There's been a bit of a delay -- about six weeks -- but it is happening in Q2.'' A Precise shareholder vote on the deal is slated for June 2.

Rudden said planning for integrating the two firms has continued unabated since late last year, with multiple integration teams ''proceeding smoothly.''