Oracle set to bust a move

Activities in the technology space continue apace despite the coronavirus pandemic, with some significant multibillion-dollar deals being announced and IPOs continuing to happen across the globe.

• Blue Label Telecoms will dispose of its 47.56% interest in Blue Label Mexico, to its co-shareholder, Grupo Bimbo ($11.5 million).
• Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) is to go into liquidation after a bid to have it placed under business rescue failed.
• Doxim, a customer communications and engagement technology company, acquired Striata.
• India-based ITC Infotech is set to invest R10 million in its global delivery centre in South Africa.
• Kalon Venture Partners has invested in Sendmarc, a cyber security start-up.
• Naspers Foundry invested in Food Supply Network, the early-stage business funding initiative’s third investment deal to date.

• Ethiopia has set a new deadline of February 2021 to complete the partial privatisation of the country’s telecommunications industry, with carriers such as Orange, Vodafone Group and MTN Group keen to participate.
• Facebook plans to open an office in Lagos, Nigeria – its second office in Africa.
• Sirius Telecom Afrique has penned a deal involving mobile virtual network services with Senegal’s incumbent national operator Sonatel.
• The announcement of a new African executive appointment at Citrix.

• Accenture will sell a majority stake in its Bit2win business to the existing Bit2win management team and Gellify. It has also agreed to acquire Salt Solutions, a German technology consultancy, and N3, a tech-driven sales firm.
• Ahead, a leading provider of platforms for digital business, plans to acquire technology solution providers RoundTower Technologies and Kovarus, two MSPs that will create a business with over 1 000 employees and $2.1 billion in gross revenue; and will be acquired by Centerbridge Partners in conjunction with Berkshire Partners in a move it expects will provide the resources to grow its cloud-native application and services business.
• Allegro MicroSystems has acquired Voxtel, a provider of photonic and 3D imaging products.
• Altair has bought Ellexus, a leading input/output analysis tool, which helps customers find and address issues quickly, improving speed accuracy and cloud readiness.
• Altice USA has offered to buy Canada-based Cogeco and Cogeco Communications for C$10.3 billion. As part of the proposed deal, the telecommunications company has entered an arrangement to sell all Cogeco's Canadian assets to Rogers Communications if the deal to buy Cogeco is completed.
• Apax Partners has agreed to purchase MyCase, a developer of legal software ($193 million).
• Arista Networks has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Awake Security, a network detection and response (NDR) platform provider that combines artificial intelligence with human expertise to autonomously hunt and respond to insider and external threats.
• Baring Private Equity Asia has signed a definitive agreement for Virtusa, a global IT services provider ($2 billion).
• BlackLine has bought Rimilia, an AI-powered cloud-based platform that enables accounts receivable automation and digital transformation.
• Boxlight will purchase three LAN-based screen sharing patents and one pending patent application from Circle Technology and has acquired Sahara Presentation Systems, a leader in distributed and manufactured AV solutions.
• ByteDance has bought UIpay, a Chinese third-party payment service.
• Cisco is planning to purchase PortShift, an Israeli start-up that has built a Kubernetes-native security platform.
• CenturyLink has rebranded to Lumen Technologies.
• Check Point Software Technologies has agreed to purchase Odo Security, a cyber security start-up.
• Computacenter is looking to expand its US business with its planned acquisition of Pivot Technology Solutions, a publicly traded IT solution provider listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
• KKR & Co will sell business software maker Epicor Software to Clayton Dubilier & Rice in a $4.7 billion deal.

A massive £15 million fine has been levied on Deloitte for its audit of software firm Autonomy.

• Cognizant has entered into an agreement to acquire Chicago-based 10th Magnitude, a leading cloud specialist focused exclusively on the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform.
• Cove Hill Partners has agreed to acquire a majority stake in SecureLink, a provider of vendor management software.
• CrowdStrike has agreed to purchase access control and threat prevention start-up Preempt Security.
• Cyient has agreed to acquire IG Partners, a specialist Australian consulting firm.
• A massive £15 million fine has been levied on Deloitte for its audit of software firm Autonomy prior to Autonomy's acquisition by HP in 2011. A UK court found the audit contained “serious and serial failures”.
• Digital Reality’s Interxion has acquired fellow data centre provider Altus IT.
• Dover has bought German-based XanTec to expand its automation solutions offering for polymer processing machines.
• Patrick Drahi has offered to take Altice Europe private via a €2.5 billion buyout.
• Emerson has acquired Open Systems International, a provider of software for the global power industry ($1.6 billion).
• EPAM has acquired Ricston, to expand its growing consulting and engineering portfolio of API, microservices management and integration services.
• Ericsson has agreed to buy US-based Cradlepoint, a wireless networking company ($1.1 billion).
• The planned government and human resources spin-off from DXC Technology will be named Gainwell Technologies.
• GoDaddy has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SkyVerge, a leading WooCommerce product developer.
• A GCHQ (UK) report has highlighted “serious and systematic defects” in Huawei software and security.
• Google plans to pay $1 billion to publishers globally for their content over the next three years.
• HCL Technologies has acquired DWS, an Australian IT firm ($115.8 million).
• Hyland Software, a Thoma Bravo company, has agreed to acquired Alfresco Software, which offers digital business software.
• France-based Iliad plans to acquire Polish mobile phone operator Play in a €3.5 billion deal.
• Imperva has agreed to buy Goldman Sachs-backed jSonar in a deal that will forge a data security powerhouse offering a comprehensive portfolio of solutions to protect modern data architectures.
• Infosys is to acquire Kaleidoscope Innovation, a product design and development firm, and GuideVision, an enterprise service management consultancy.
• Innovative Discovery has acquired Integro, a provider of governance and technical consulting services.
• Intelsat has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the commercial aviation business of Gogo, the largest global provider of in-flight broadband connectivity, for $400 million.
• Italy's anti-trust authority has opened an inquiry into Google, Apple and Dropbox over cloud computing services.
• Jamf has entered into an agreement to acquire Mondada, the creator of Kinobi and Kinobi Pro – leading solutions in patch management for the Apple platform.
• Juniper Networks has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Netrounds, a programmable, software-based active test and service assurance platform suitable for fixed and mobile networks for the entire service life cycle.
• KKR has agreed to buy a €1.8 billion stake (37.5%) in FiberCop, Telecom Italia’s last-mile network.
• LeddarTech, a developer in level 1-5 ADAS and AD sensing technology, has acquired the assets of Phantom Intelligence, including all of its intellectual property and technology, a firm that is recognised for its expertise in signal processing and LiDAR technology.
• Mavenir has acquired ip.access, a leading 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G-ready small cell solutions provider.
• MaxLinear has acquired NanoSemi, an industry-leading provider of intellectual property that utilises patented machine learning techniques to improve signal integrity and power efficiency in SoCs, ASICs and FPGAs used in next-generation communication and artificial intelligence systems.
• Microchip Technology has acquired Tekron International, a global leader in providing high-precision GPS and atomic clock time-keeping technologies and solutions for the smart grid and other industrial applications.
• Microsoft will buy ZeniMax Media for $7.5 billion, thus strengthening its Xbox video game offering with the studio behind titles such as Fallout and the Doom reboot.
• MobileIron has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Ivanti, a leading provider of enterprise-grade intelligent IT management and security software solutions.
• Nippon Telegraph and Telephone will take full control of its wireless carrier business NTT Docomo for about $40 billion and that its Data Services has acquired Acorio, ServiceNow’s 2020 Industry Solutions Partner of the Year in the Americas.
• Nuvoton Technology has purchased Panasonic's semiconductor business.
• Nvidia has agreed on a $40 billion deal to acquire Softbank’s ARM, a UK-based chip designer.
• Pacific Equity Partners has agreed to the acquisition of Citadel Group, an Australian IT provider.
• PagerDuty has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Rundeck, a leading provider of DevOps automation for the enterprise.
• Progress Software has entered into a definitive agreement to buy Chef, a global leader in DevOps and DevSecOps.
• Pure Storage has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Portworx, the leading Kubernetes data services ($370 million).
• Oracle is expected to agree to a deal for a stake in TikTok’s US operations.
• Red Ventures will buy CNET Media Group from ViacomCBS for $500 million.
• Rocket Internet will delist from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
• SAP will acquire Austrian-based Emarsys, a cloud-based marketing platform.
• SecureWorks has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Delve, a vulnerability management provider.
• Snap-on has acquired the assets of AutoCrib, a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of tool and asset control solutions.
• SoftBank will sell US cellphone distributor Brightstar.
• TA Associates has acquired a majority stake in Netwrix, a cyber security vendor.
• Tencent will take Sogou, the Web search firm, private in a $3.5 billion deal, making it the latest Chinese company to exit US markets as tensions mount between the world's two largest economies.
• Tech Mahindra’s wholly-owned subsidiary TechM Americas has sold its stake in Altiostar Networks to Rakuten’s US subsidiary.
• Teradyne had been added to the S&P 500 index.
• ThreatConnect has acquired Nehemiah Security, which helps companies better measure the degree to which specific security investments reduce an organisation’s risk profile.
• TVC has acquired Oversight Systems, a provider of AI-based financial analysis services.
• The US has imposed restrictions on exports to China's biggest chip maker, SMIC, citing a risk of military use.
• VMware plans to acquire software automation specialist SaltStack in a move to boost its vRealize Suite of products and address all customer automation needs both on-premises and in the cloud.
• Verisk has acquired Franco Signor, a highly-regarded Medicare Secondary Payer service provider.
• Verizon agreed to buy prepaid wireless service provider Tracfone from Mexico-based America Movil for $6.25 billion.
• Warburg Pincus has agreed to purchase a 50% stake in Infoblox, an IT automation and security services business.
• Vodafone Idea is to be branded as Vi.
• Vishay Intertechnology will buy substantially all of the US assets of Applied Thin-Film Products, a privately held manufacturer of custom, build-to-print thin film substrates for the microwave, fibre-optic and life science industries.
• Zebra Technologies has acquired Reflexis Systems, a privately-held provider of intelligent workforce management, execution and communication solutions for organisations in the retail, food service, hospitality and banking industries.
• The announcement of new CEOs at CommScope, Exclusive Networks, ForeScout, Gainwell Technologies, Ilantus Technologies, Iomart and Singtel Group.
• An IPO filing for Canada’s Toronto exchange from Nuvei, a Canadian payments specialist.
• IPO filing for Nasdaq from McAfee, a cyber security firm.
• IPO filings for the NYSE from Datto, the former storage vendor that eventually invested in providing a complete set of platforms and tools for the managed service provider community; Skillsz, a mobile gaming firm; and Yalla Group, a Chinese voice-chat app.
• IPO on China’s Nasdaq-like STAR market from 3Peak.
• IPOs on Nasdaq from Bentley Systems, Chindata, JFrog and Sumo Logic.
• IPOS on the NYSE from American Well, Asana, Palantir, Snowflake (largest ever software IPO on record), VIA Optronics and Yalla.

• JSE All share index: Down 3.3%
• FTSE100: Down 1%
• DAX: Down 2.6%%
• NYSE (Dow): Down 3.4% %
• S&P 500: Down 4.5% (all-time high reached during this period)
• Nasdaq: Down 5.3% (all-time high reached during this period)
• Nikkei225: Up 0.6%
• Hang Seng: Down 7.7%
• Shanghai: Down 5.5%

• Vendor revenue in the worldwide server market grew 19.8% year-over-year to $24 billion during 2Q20, according to IDC. Worldwide server shipments grew 18.4% year-over-year to nearly 3.2 million units.
• According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Cloud IT Infrastructure Tracker, vendor revenue from sales of IT infrastructure products for cloud environments, including public and private cloud, increased 34.4% year-over-year in Q220. Investments in traditional, non-cloud IT infrastructure declined 8.7%.

Look out for the outcome of the Oracle/TikTok deal and further developments regarding the proposed Nvidia/ARM Holdings takeover.