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Thursday, March 15, 2012

Cisco to purchase NDS for $5 billion -Israeli report, (NASDAQ: CSCO), (NASDAQ: NWSA)

NDS, which develops software for multi-channel television networks, is in advanced talks to be acquired by Cisco Systems for $5 billion, Israel's Calcalist financial newspaper reported on Thursday. Founded in Israel in 1988 and headquartered in London, NDS is 51 percent owned by the Permira private equity fund and 49 percent by News Corp. It maintains a large research and development centre in Jerusalem.Officials at NDS in Jerusalem could not immediately be reached for comment.The deal's value is about 35 percent higher than NDS's value when it was delisted from the stock exchange in 2009, Calcalist said.It is believed that negotiations between the parties set the backdrop for the retirement of chief executive Abe Peled in July. Peled, the Israeli who headed the company for 16 years, was named chairman of the company instead.

Cisco Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells Internet protocol (IP)-based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology (IT) industry and provide services associated with these products and their use. Shares of CSCO remained unchanged at $20.20. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $13.30 and as high as $20.49. On average, 42183100 shares of CSCO exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 0.

News Corporation is a diversified global media company. Shares of NWSA remained unchanged at $20.02. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $13.38 and as high as $20.36. On average, 16344700 shares of NWSA exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 0.



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