WordStar International Inc is effectively engineering its own takeover in a merger agreement with SoftKey Software Products Inc of Mississauga, Ontario under which SoftKey holders will end up with 75% of the equity of the enlarged company, which will retain WordStar’s quote and be headquartered at the word processing software pioneer’s headquarters in Novato, California. The combined annual sales of the two for their most recent fiscal years was $90m, and the partners reckon they are creating one of the largest software publishers in the consumer, home office, and small business markets, offering over 100 titles for Windows, Macintosh, and MS-DOS, and will market in over 50 countries. To satisfy Canadian tax authorities, SoftKey shareholders will be offered either 3.6 WordStar shares or 3.6 new SoftKey non-voting shares each later exchangeable for one WordStar share with full voting rights. SoftKey brass are in the ascendant: president Kevin O’Leary will be chairman, chairman Michael Perik will be chief executive; WordStar chief Ron Posner will become a director.
