It seems KnowledgeWare Inc may be an acquisition candidate for hungry Munich software house Softlab GmbH which, on behalf of its 75% owner Bayerische MotorenWerke AG, is known to be assessing various complementary software businesses as potential buys, particularly in the US (CI No 1,869). According to Computerworld, Softlab recently offered $350m for the company which has been experiencing a rough time of late, reporting mid-term losses of $3.5m back in January (CI No 1,850). A spokeswoman for Softlab, however, told the US paper’s German sister publication, Computerwoche, that the figure had been plucked out of the air and, while confirming that the two companies are in discussion, said that negotiations are no further advanced than those it is currently having with at least four other US firms. Beyond that, Softlab isn’t giving anything away: US rules say it may not discuss talks until agreement is won.
