Summit Technology to sell Lens Express
WALTHAM – Summit Technology, Inc. announced that it will sell its Lens Express unit to Strategic Optical Holdings, Inc. for $31 million in cash. Summit, the second largest maker of surgical eye lasers, said it is selling Lens Express in order to focus on its ophthalmic laser systems and related products. Summit reported losses in the last four quarters.
ImmunoGen licenses drug technology
CAMBRIDGE – ImmunoGen, Inc. announced that it had licensed its tumor-activated technology to Genentech, Inc. of California for use with that company’s cancer treatment drug, Herceptin. ImmunoGen said it would receive an immediate payment of $2 million followed by $40 million in “milestone” payments for research and development. The licensing agreements are separate from ImmunoGen’s agreement with Kline Beecham PLC for collaborative development of internal cancer drugs, an ImmunoGen spokesman said..
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Advanced Visual Systems to be sold
WALTHAM – Advanced Visual Systems, Inc. is being sold to Muse Technologies, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, for about $9.2 million in stock Advanced Visual announced. Under terms of the deal, Visual Systems would operate as a unit of Muse, under its existing management. Muse will assume about $2 million in Advanced Visual’s debt with Kubota Corp. The combined companies will have about 170 employees.
Reuters to buy Yankee Group
LONDON (Bloomberg) — Reuters Group Plc, the largest provider of financial information, said it will buy Waltham, Mass. Primark Corp.’s Yankee Group, a technology consulting and market research company, for $72.5 million to broaden its line of services. Reuters, which will pay cash for Yankee Group Research, said it will consider similar acquisitions in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Boston-based Yankee Group also provides market research. As sales of financial-information terminals and foreign- exchange trading systems slow, Reuters has been investing in Web sites to bring its news and information to a bigger audience. Yankee Group offers research and analysis on electronic commerce, the Internet, computing, telecommunications and other industries. “The acquisition is part of their strategy to increase the customer base by bringing in retail and other investors,” said Andrew Gordon-Brown, an analyst at Warburg Dillon Read who has a “buy” rating on the stock. “They make sure they are improving the quality of information, providing value-added content.”
Polaroid’s Hall goes to ePhone
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Bloomberg) — Polaroid Corp. Vice President Clifford Hall, who helped create the company’s I- Zone digital camera, resigned to become president of ePhones, a closely held wireless telecommunications company. Hall joined Polaroid four years ago from Black & Decker, Inc., where he was responsible for developing the cordless screwdriver. He will also become Fremont, California-based ePhones’s chief operating officer. Hall is the second top executive in a year to leave Polaroid. Former marketing chief Jerry Noonan left in August to join 1-800- FLOWERS.COM Inc., in Westbury, New York. Noonan was promoted to the top marketing post after Serafina Posa quit the job in December 1998 for personal reasons.
Amazon.com tops list of online retailers
SEATTLE (Bloomberg) — Amazon.com Inc., the biggest Internet retailer, continued to attract the most online customers in April, followed by Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch Inc.’s Ticketmaster.com and Barnes & Noble.com Inc., according to a survey. Amazon.com had more than 1.5 million buyers in April, said PC Data, a Reston, Virginia-based firm that measures Internet traffic. Tickemaster.com attracted 633,000 buyers, and Barnes & Noble.com attracted 439,000 buyers, the firm said. Sears, Roebuck & Co.’s Sears.com jumped into the No. 5 position from No. 29 the month before, with 300,000 buyers in April. Staples Inc.’s Staples.com moved up to No. 8 from No. 38, with 236,000 buyers last month.
IPO party over, go elsewhere for cash, bankers say
NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Bill Brady knows the party is over. Now, Credit Suisse First Boston’s chief technology banker and his Wall Street peers are telling their clients. His message: If you’re a company like PacketVideo Corp. and Techies.com Inc. with big ideas but little revenue, you can forget the initial public offering that would have yielded an overnight, multibillion-dollar valuation. As many as half the 370 companies that have filed with regulators to raise $37 billion in IPOs will be forced instead to raise cash in private markets or from strategic investors. That contrasts with last year when more than eight in 10 companies that filed completed IPOs. “We’ll steer about a third of the companies that way that would otherwise have done an IPO,” Brady says. CSFB has 56 companies in the pipeline, more than any investment bank, planning IPOs worth $5.75 billion.
(Compiled from news reports and releases, print and electronic.)
