Now it looks like Certicom will go to Research In Motion (RIM) after all. VeriSign did not exercise its right to match an offer by RIM, which was $3 (CND) per share versus VeriSign’s $2.10 (CND) per share offer.
The saga has been going on for months. In December, Certicom opposed RIM’s overture to buy it for $1.50 (CDN) per share and sought an injunction, alleging RIM failed to make proper disclosures.
Then it looked as though VeriSign won the bid, offering about 40 percent more than what RIM had offered. Now RIM topped that, and VeriSign is entitled to a $4 million (CND) termination fee.
Certicom provides elliptic curve cryptography used in government communications.