Liberate Acquires Sigma Systems

San Carlos, California-headquartered Liberate Technologies acquired, on August 9, 2002, privately-held Sigma Systems Group (Canada) Inc., based in Toronto. The transaction was effected by way of an amalgamation followed by a share purchase, with Sigma shareholders, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Morgan Stanley and Cisco Systems, Inc., receiving aggregate cash consideration of approximately US$62 million. The acquisition extends Liberate’s leadership in digital network infrastructure.

The Liberate legal team was led by in-house counsel Kent Walker and Danielle Cullinane; and Neil Sheehy, David Sherman, Mitch Sherman, Alan Bowman, John Brookes and Jana Steele of Goodmans LLP acted as Canadian counsel. Chris Dillon, Jennifer Winslow, Nancy Chen, Brett Nissenberg and Ryan Damon of Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, LLP in Menlo Park, California acted as U.S. counsel.

Sigma was represented by Jay Kellerman, Christopher Bean, D’Arcy Nordick, Nancy Ramalho, Brian Freeman and Jason Wilson of Stikeman Elliott in Toronto. Hale and Dorr LLP acted as U.S. counsel to Sigma, with a team comprised of Stuart Nayman in New York and Michael Nathanson, William Schmidt and Julie Hogan in Boston.