Babcock & Brown buys Eircom

Last week was quiet from both an international and local perspective with no single event taking the limelight.

* The lb2.4 billion acquisition of Eircom, Ireland`s dominant telecommunications company, by Australia`s Babcock & Brown, a financial services company. This is the second time in five years that Eircom has gone private; it was privatised in 1999 by a private equity consortium and then floated again on the stock market in 2004.

* Satisfactory annual figures from Alliance Data, with revenue up nearly 6% but profits up more than 30%.
* A quarterly loss from Spescom Software, the US operation of JSE-listed Spescom.
* The 40% investment by BlackStar Group, a BEE investment company, in Fulcrum Solutions.
* The appointment of Jacques Malherbe as CEO of Westcon AME.
* Axis Communications opened a local office, headed by Roy Alves, the former MD of its local distributor SCS Distribution.
* Australian-based IBA Health is setting up a local operation, following the awarding of the Limpopo hospital IT contract to LHC Health Solutions, a black empowerment consortium that will partner with IBA Health.

This is the second time that Eircom has gone private; it was privatised in 1999 by a private equity consortium and then floated again on the stock market in 2004.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Cameroon Mobile Telecommunications SA, a subsidiary of Camtel, became the third mobile operator in Cameroon.
* Good Q1 figures from Maroc Telecom.
* Sotelma, Mali`s national telecommunications incumbent, recorded a loss for 2005.
* Tanzania licensed four new cellular service providers, which will bring the total to 10 when the new ones come into operation during the next six months.
* The Nigerian government short-listed seven Nitel sale candidates, including Celtel (owned by Kuwait`s MTC), Etisalat (Emirates Telecommunications), Investcom (being bought by MTN) and Telkom SA.
* The Liberian Telecommunication Cooperation will cease to exist after the end of this month.
* The Kenyan government plans to sell its stake in Telkom Kenya by April 2007 through an IPO on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.

* Juniper Networks to be added to the S&P 500.
* The $465 million acquisition of Hummingbird by Symphony Technology Group.
* A job loss announcement from Seagate Technology.
* A planned IPO from Intermap Technologies on London`s AIM.
* A planned IPO on the Australian Exchange by DWS Advanced Business Solutions, an IT services provider.
* IPOs on London`s AIM by Chinese mobile technology group, IGM Mobile; and Networkers International, a company working in the mobile telecommunications and technology space.
* A poor IPO on Nasdaq by telecommunications company Vonage, the worst IPO on Nasdaq for nearly two years.
* AirNet Communications plans a voluntary Chapter 11 filing.

* Fortinet, a security appliance vendor, which may plan an IPO or offer itself up for acquisition.
* The acquisition this week of Millicom International Cellular by China Mobile Communications.

* The worldwide server market declined in Q106 by 1.9% from last year with HP just keeping ahead of IBM for the number one slot, says IDC.
* Worldwide relational database management systems total software revenue was $13.8 billion in 2005, up 8.3% from the previous year, says Gartner.

* JSE All share index: Up 2.5%
* Nasdaq: Up 0.7%
* Top SA share movements: Alliance Data (-9.4%), Infowave (+7.7%), Labat Africa (-8.3%) and Vesta (-22.8%)
* Top international share movements: AirNet Communications (-58.6%), Blue Coat Systems (-19.1%), Credence Systems (-30%), Daktronics (+21.1%), Epicus Communications (-31.1%), Hanaro Telecom (-21.7%), Pegasus Wireless (-34.6%), Proxim (-26.3%), Silverline Technologies (+25%) and Vonage (-23.4%)

The latest issue of BusinessWeek has its annual @hot Growth Companies listing. From a technology perspective, some of the top companies are Navteq at number five, Vasco Data Security International at seven, Cognizant Technology Solutions at 16 and OmniVision Technologies at 19.