Microsoft Corp. has completed settlement of its tender offer for Fast Search & Transfer ASA. Microsoft’s plans to acquire FAST were originally announced Jan. 8, 2008. FAST will operate as a Microsoft subsidiary, with a dedicated enterprise search research and development center in Oslo, Norway, and offices throughout the world.
John Markus Lervik will transition from his role as FAST CEO to become Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Enterprise Search, reporting to Teper. Under Lervik’s leadership, the group’s charter will include the development of a comprehensive portfolio of enterprise search offerings, including Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express, search for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and FAST ESP, and future delivery of a single enterprise search platform.
Existing FAST customers will continue to be served by their FAST sales, services and support teams, while the combined product lineup immediately extends customer choice.
FAST and Microsoft ... through a cash tender offer for 19.00 Norwegian kroner (NOK) per share. This offer represents a 42 percent premium to the closing share price on Jan. 4, 2008 (the last trading day prior to this announcement), and values the fully diluted equity of FAST at 6.6 billion NOK (or approximately $1.2 billion U.S.). FAST’s board of directors has unanimously recommended that its shareholders accept the offer.