The following appeared a few hours ago.
Dream ends for iSoft with $300m buyout
- Nabila Ahmed
- From: The Australian
- March 30, 2011
WHEN Gary Cohen's IBA Health agreed to buy troubled British group iSoft in 2007, he had visions of creating one of the largest healthcare information technology providers in the world.
Cohen, who was ousted last year from the company now called iSoft, is infamous for dreaming big but delivering little.
What followed was years of underperformance that has left the share price at 5c, compared with the $1.21 it closed at on the day IBA announced its agreement with iSoft, and debt of about $260 million -- more than four and a half times its current market capitalisation.
This week, the UBS-advised iSoft is poised to be bought out by the New York-listed CSC.
It's believed IT services giant CSC, which is iSoft's biggest customer, could finalise a more than $300m takeover deal for the company as early as today. ISoft is a major supplier to the British government, which is in the midst of a pound stg. 12.7 billion ($20bn) overhaul of the National Health Service's IT systems. (CSC subcontracted iSoft to carry out the work before the IBA buyout.)
More here:
This sounds like the end. Banks get paid, little shareholders dudded and CSC gets a revenue stream and some OK software. Pretty typical in this sort of collapse!
At least the users will have continued support from a reasonably competent organisation that knows e-Health.
Sad loss for Australia, but it really was a rather large ask in retrospect.
David.
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