• Cisco Systems agreed to pay about $450 million in stock and assumed options to acquire privately held Airespace Inc., a provider of wireless local area networking. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of Cisco’s 2005 fiscal year, which ends April 30.
• Merge Technologies, a healthcare software company doing business as Merge eFilm, agreed to acquire Cedara Software Corp. in a stock swap valued at $393.4 million. Merge eFilm will issue either 0.587 common shares, or 0.587 shares of a newly created class of shares, for each Cedara common share; Cedara CEO Abe Schwartz plans to serve as a member of the combined company’s board of directors. The combined company will have an extensive imaging product suite to serve original equipment manufacturers as well as radiological and clinical end users, according to Merge. The deal is expected to close in April.
• Elekta AB, a Swedish maker of radiation machines to treat cancer, agreed to buy California-based Impac Medical Systems for about $250 million, or $24 in cash for each share of Impac common stock outstanding. The acquisition will be financed through cash on hand and a new $125 million, five-year revolving credit facility. The combined company will address the entire cancer-care process, from diagnosis through treatment planning, treatment delivery, and follow-up, including cancer registry and decision support. The companies also expressed their joint commitment to an open architecture, multivendor software format. Impac added that it intends to close the transaction shortly after a special stockholders meeting in mid-April.
• McData Corp., a maker of storage networking equipment, agreed to acquire Computer Network Technology in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $235 million in equity and debt. Computer Network shareholders will receive 1.3 shares of McData Class A common stock for each share of CNT common stock; Computer Network chairman and chief executive officer Tom Hudson will join McData’s board of directors. One-time cash costs associated with the transaction are expected to range between $40 million and $50 million, according to McData.
• Eastman Kodak Co. agreed to buy privately held Orex Computed Radiography Ltd. — an Israel-based provider of compact, computed radiography systems that enable medical practitioners to acquire patient X-rays digitally — for about $50.5 million in cash. The deal is expected to close by the end of the first quarter.
• Separately, Kodak announced that it would become the sole owner of Kodak Polychrome Graphics, a joint venture it established with Sun Chemical in 1998. All of Sun Chemical’s shares in KPG will be redeemed for $317 million in cash at closing in April. Remaining payments totaling $817 million will be made in installments beginning in 2006.
• eBay agreed to buy the technology assets of privately held Kurant for an undisclosed amount. The online auction giant is particularly interested in Kurant’s software that allows companies to add commerce to an existing Website or create a store. The transaction is expected to close in the current quarter, according to eBay.