Progress Software is to buy Iona Technologies in a deal worth $162 million.
The US-based firm's offer of $4.05 per share is about 16 per cent more than Iona's average share price in the six month period before the takeover approach was announced in February. Industry speculation last week had estimated the takeover would go ahead at $4.50 per share, valuing the firm at $165 million.
In 2007, the company posted revenues of $77.7 million and had a pretax loss of $1.7 million. Revenues for 2008 are expected to be in the range of $80-85 million.
The Dublin-based firm's directors have agreed to vote in favour of the deal, which will see Iona Technologies become a subsidiary of Progress Software.
Loss-making Iona has been the subject of takeover speculation for a number of months, with US "open source" developer Red Hat, Software AG and Sun Microsystems all mentioned as possible buyers. Last week, it announced it had selected its preferred bidder.