The word of the week for Boston-area deal-making was acquisition. You’ll see what I mean.
—Data-center-automation firm BladeLogic (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BLOG]]) of Lexington, MA, scored an impressive $800 million in a buy-out deal with Houston, TX-based BMC Software (NYSE: [[ticker:BMC]]).
—Beverley, MA-based Axcelis Technologies, a maker of specialized semiconductor manufacturing equipment, once again rejected a takeover offer by Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo Heavy Industries. Wade unravels the complicated history between the firms.
—EMC (NYSE: [[ticker:EMC]]) of Hopkinton, MA, had better luck with its second shot at San Diego-based Iomega (NYSE: [[ticker:IOM]]). The California firm announced that it’s willing to discuss a revised bid from EMC, worth about $205.5 million, after rejecting an initial $180 million offer.
—Cambridge, MA-based Teragram was acquired by Cary, NC, business-intelligence giant SAS for an undisclosed sum. Teragram develops natural language processing tools for a host of companies.
—DNA-based diagnostics developer Exact Sciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EXAS]]) of Marlborough, MA, announced it would explore a sale of the firm or other strategic options. Money manager Kenneth Luskin of Santa Monica, CA’s Intrinsic Value Asset Management had urged the company to put itself on the block in an SEC filing made a few weeks earlier.
—Bedford, MA-based mobile music distributor Groove Mobile was bought by Framingham, MA-based NMS Communications (NASDAQ: [[ticker:NMSS]]) for only about 45 cents on the dollar.
—Marlborough, MA-based 3Com said it would seek a $66 million penalty payment from Boston-based Bain Capital, which gave up on a proposed takeover of 3Com after failing to get approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States for the deal.
And in non-acquisition-related news…
—LED lighting developer Luminus Devices of Billerica, MA, raised some $72 million in a round led by Braemar Energy Ventures of Boston and joined by CMEA Ventures, Paladin Capital Group, Battery Venture Partners, Argonaut Private Equity, Stata Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, DFJ-New England, Eastward Capital, and others. Luminus, which previously focused on providing lamps for TVs and projectors, is in the midst of a big push to expand into the general-illumination market and other areas.
—Pogo Jet added its IPO to the list of offerings that have been pulled or delayed since the new year.
—Highland Capital Partners of Lexington, MA, and California’s Draper Fisher Jurvetson led a $12 million Series D round for CafeMom, a New York-based social network for mothers.
