Adobe Systems Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition of Accelio Corp., a publicly-held company based in Ottawa, Canada.
“The acquisition immediately establishes Adobe as a leading provider of Web-enabled solutions for customers whose business processes are driven by electronic forms,” said Adobe in a statement released following the acquisition.
Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen explained that his company’s acquisition of Accelio was done to help expand their Acrobat business. “Through the combination of Adobe Acrobat, Adobe PDF technologies and Accelio’s server-based solutions, Adobe can now extend Acrobat solutions to enterprise users in Global 2000 businesses, governments and educational institutions, delivering greater value to our customers, shareholders and employees,” said Chizen.
E-paper and electronic forms is a burgeoning market for Adobe. The company estimates its market opportunity to be somewhere in the vicinity of $3 billion by 2004.
Accelio stockholders now get 0.072573 shares of Adobe common stock for each share of Accelio stock they own — all told, Adobe said this 1.81 million shares of its common stock has been issued in exchange for all outstanding Accelio common shares. Accelio repurchased all outstanding stock options for cash payments of about US$1.3 million, accordingly.
Adobe anticipates additional revenue of $30-$35 million from the acquisition, along with a charge of $12-$15 million, with pro forma earnings per share dilution of about $0.02 in fiscal year 2002.
Accelio’s business will be integrated into Adobe’s operations, according to the company. The former Accelio headquarters in Ottawa will function as a remote Adobe site. Adobe reports that the acquisition will result in a loss of about 200 positions worldwide as the result of redundant sales, general and administrative positions.