Belgian software company NetVision NV announced yesterday it had acquired a controlling 51% stake in Aethis BV, a network engineering company specializing in management for secure e- business.
NetVision, which carried out a controversial flotation on the Brussels-based Easdaq exchange earlier this year (CI No 3,596), said that with the acquisition, it would add management services to its three existing areas of expertise, namely network security, secure extranet applications and payment systems.
The acquisition of the Aethis stake, the value of which was not revealed, was combined with a capital increase of BFr15m ($400,000) in the company, which like NetVision is based in the town of Louvain. Aethis had a revenue of BFr16.5m ($440,000) in 1998.
NetVision’s February IPO was surrounded by controversy after its shares, offered for sale in the operation at 12 euros ($13.54) each, rocketed to 45 euros ($51.08) when dealings began. The institutional tranche of shares had been 75 times oversubscribed, and the public tranche, 120 times.
