Activant Solutions Acquires Speedware

Activant Solutions Inc., majority-owned by affiliates of Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc., completed its takeover bid for Speedware Corporation Inc. on March 30, 2005, with Activant acquiring approximately 96 per cent of the Speedware shares. Activant acquired the remaining Speedware shares through a compulsory acquisition transaction. The total cash purchase price was approximately $143 million.

The take-over bid was first announced on January 24, 2005. At that time, Activant entered into a support agreement with Speedware and a lock-up agreement with Speedware securityholders holding approximately 48 per cent of the Speedware shares on a fully-diluted basis.

Activant was represented by general counsel Richard Rew II; in Canada by Ogilvy Renault LLP with a team that included Terence Dobbin, Pierre Dagenais, Paul Fitzgerald, Eric Reither, Adrienne Oliver and Barry Segal (tax) and Dany Assaf (competition); and in the US by Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP with a team that included Jeffrey Hitt, Elisabeth Gormley, Scott Akins, Paul Asofsky, David Bower and Keith Cooper.

Speedware was represented by Lang Michener LLP with a team that included Philippe Tardif, Craig Manuel, Emma Ritchie and Dunia El-Jawhari. The special committee of the board of directors was represented by William Orr and Georges Dubé of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP.