Aladdin Comes Clean, Addresses Merger Reports (ALDN)

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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Broken_money_merger_imageWe reported yesterday that Israeli-data and IT security firm Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ: ALDN) was up sharply higher on reports that its old merger offer "may" be developing again.  The company has issued a response, and it seems that there are still more questions and opportunity for skepticism than there are any solid answers.

The company just noted:

    In response to a January 6th article published in the Israeli Newspaper“The Marker” and other media reports, Aladdin announced that it iscontinuing discussions with Jasmine Holdco regarding a possiblestrategic transaction. There can be no assurance that a definitivetransaction between Aladdin and Jasmine can be negotiated or the timingor terms of any such transaction.

    Aladdin and Jasmine have extended the previously announced standstillagreement, which originally expired on October 30, 2008, during thependency of these negotiations.

    Aladdin intends to make a further announcement upon the execution ofany definitive agreement with Jasmine or the termination ofnegotiations with Jasmine.

We would urge you to consider that the old $13.00 was one which wasrebuffed.  If the new weak economy changes management’s opinion on a"true value" then something might be possible.  But….

Shares rose about 37% to $9.62 yesterday.  There has been no pre-marketvolume, but it looks like early indications are showing shares slightlylower.

Jon C. Ogg
January 7, 2009

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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