NCR buys 4Front for $250m

NCR is to buy 4Front Technologies Inc, the UK-headquartered computer maintenance/storage firm for $250 million in cash.

This can be considered a good deal for 4Front shareholders, with the price achieved equivalent to last year's turnover of $252 million, and a 35 per cent premium to the company's closing price on Nasdaq on the day before the deal was announced. And cash too!

4Front employs 2000 staff and has branches scattered across Europe. It also has units in the US and Japan.

ICG, the world's biggest reseller consortium, has plugged the hole left by the collapse of US partner Inacom. Step forward new American affiliate Comark Inc, of Bloomingdale, Illinois. Apparently, this is the biggest privately-owned reseller in the US.

ICG has 50 member companies, including Computacenter, which work together to fulfil IT product requirements for multinationals on a global basis.

Black Box Corporation, the ultra-acquisitive US networking equipment reseller, has bought a British dealership, its third takeover in this country.

Data Specialties Europe Ltd, which trades as Anglo Communications Ltd, is based in Bury St Edmunds and claims annual sales of $5m. The company is changing its name to Black Box Network Services. Terms of the takeover, constructed as a "merger" for, we assume, US tax purposes, were undisclosed. ®