By Stephen Shankland
Friday, October 21 2005 02:45 PM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/hardware/0,39042972,39283685,00.htm

EMC said Thursday it agreed to acquire Captiva Software, whose products let customers turn paper documents into digital data, for US$275 million.

The Hopkinton, Mass.-based company agreed to pay US$22.25 per share for Captiva, which amounts to about US$275 million once Captiva's cash is factored out, EMC said Thursday. Captiva's stock closed at US$18.30 Thursday, but in after-hours trading, it increased US$3.45, or 19 percent, to US$21.75.

The move continues EMC's transformation from a storage hardware specialist into an information management company. San Diego-based Captiva sells software that can extract information from forms, documents and reports, then export the data to computer systems for processing and storage.

Earlier acquisitions in the same vein in 2003 include Documentum, which lets customers manage large numbers of digital documents; Legato, which sells backup software; and Astrum Software, whose software governs which individuals or groups may access particular files.

A bit further afield, EMC also acquired VMware, a company that has increasingly focused on controlling how work is juggled across groups of servers.

The latest deal requires approval of regulators and Captiva shareholders.

EMC also plans to take a charge of US$15 million to US$20 million for in-process research and development, the company said. Excluding the charge, EMC expects the acquisition to be neutral to earnings per share for the first full year.