Tag Archive: Certicom

Research in Motion’s bid to take over encryption technology developer Certicom now appears to be a done deal, with competing bidder VeriSign notifying Certicom that it would not top RIM’s latest offer of $3 CDN per share, or about $106 million USD. RIM has been moving to acquire Certicom for some time to augment its mobile products with enhanced security, including elliptical curve cryptography (ECC) technologies, which, on a per-bit basis, are currently considered more secure than other forms of cryptography. Certicom says the U.S. National Security Agency uses ECC technology to encrypt government communications.

Earlier this month, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion announced it had finally reached a deal to take over Ontario security firm Certicom in a transaction valued at about $52 million. The two companies have been talking about the acquisition for nearly two years…but now it appears Certicom isn’t too happy with the deal. Certicom’s board has recommended its shareholders reject RIM’s bid for the company as undervalued…and now characterizes the takeover attempt as “hostile.” Certicom has also petitioned the Ontario Superior Court to block RIM’s takeover attempt.  Read more...