BROADVISION WILL BUY INTERLEAF FOR $851.6 MILLION.

California based software company BroadVision will acquire Massachusetts based supplier of document-management systems Interleaf for $851.6 million. This is the largest acquisition ever by BroadVision and is an extension of its plan to deliver electronic-commerce software for the web and wireless devices by acquiring content management type companies.

Interleaf, a major supplier of document-management systems to large corporation, utilizes extensible markup language (XML), an emerging standard that makes it easier to automate business processes. Central to BroadVision's efforts was the value of Interleaf's "E Content" division which includes nearly 300 of Interleaf's 400 employees. The closing of the transaction is anticipated prior to June 2000, and would have some slight dilutive effect on BroadVision's earnings in the first half of the year 2000, according to a company spokesperson.

Both companies are traded on the NASDAQ, and the acquisition will be accomplished by the use of BroadVision shares, with an exchange of 0.3465 of a share of BroadVision for each share of Interleaf, which reflects a premium of approximately 40% to Interleaf's January 24 closing price.