ActivCard Corp is to acquire the 51% of Aspace Solutions Ltd that it does not already own for between $10 million and $20 million, to boost its portfolio of products that are specifically designed for the financial services market.
The firm will pay $9.7 million (GBP10 million), half in stock and half in shares, for the UK-based company. If Aspace meets certain revenue targets, ActivCard will pay another $9.7 million, half stock, half cash, to complete the acquisition.
ActivCard said the two companies have been working together for over a year, combining Aspace’s authentication technology with ActivCard’s own software. ActivCard specializes in smart cards.
This work relationship has cumulated in the integration of the two companies’ products, and the announcement of the ActivCard authorization server which is based on Aspace 4tress solution, said CEO Ben Barnes in an analyst call.
Aspace has no revenues to date to speak of, but has a suite designed specifically for the Internet banking market, where security problems and increasingly prolific phishing attacks are expected to drive adoption of authentication technologies.