HELSINKI, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The American Intel Corp's security software provider McAfee announced a plan to purchase Helsinki-based network security company Stonesoft at a premium, arousing positive response in Finland on Monday.
The final offer was 4.5 euros (about 5.9 U.S. dollars) per share, or 288 million euros in total, which was 142 percent higher than Stonesoft's average stock market value in the last 12 month.
The board of Stonesoft unconditionally accepted McAfee's offer, and the two companies signed an agreement on business combination, according to local media reports.
After the announcement was released, the share price of Stonesoft rose by 123 percent in the Helsinki stock market.
Ilkka Hiidenheimo, managing director of Stonesoft, said that MacAfee's decision was based on the fact that Stonesoft is the inventor of the advanced firewall technology.
The merge will help improve the products, said Hiidenheimo. "This provides opportunities for Stonesoft to utilize MacAfee's position as a global leader, its more than 2,200 sales professionals and its best research and technology synergy," he was quoted as saying.
By the merge, McAfee could be able to improve its leading position in the global network security market, which was negatively affected with the downturn of the PC industry in recent years.
Stonesoft was considered a global pioneer in the research, detection and prevention of Advanced Evasion Techniques, providing network security solutions.
Listed in the Helsinki stock market, the Finnish Internet security company was founded in 1999. It has regional headquarters in American cities of Atlanta and Georgia, as well as a number of sales offices in Europe, the Middle East and China. (1 euro = 1.31 U.S. dollars)
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