More M&A: Pervasive To Buy Data Junction

Pervasive Software said Monday morning it will buy Data Junction for cash and stock totaling about $51.7 million.

Privately held Data Junction specializes in extraction, transformation and load(ETL) technology and application integration technologies. Pervasive develops an embedded database and other data management tools.

Both companies are based in Austin, Texas.

Pervasive's bread-and-butter embedded database business is based on the venerable Btrieve product, once owned by Novell. Data Junction offers the Data Junction Integration Studio--visual design tools for quickly building and testing integration processes.

Both boards have approved the deal, which remains subject to approval by shareholders. It is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.

Last week, other acquisition activity included Ascential Software's buyout Mercator Software for about $106 million in cash, Novell's purchase of desktop Linux company Ximian, and content management player Interwoven's buyout of iManage for $171 million in cash and stock.

The flurry of activity is a sign that purchasers believe the market has bottomed out and valuations will start to rise, industry observers said.