News In Brief

By Robert Kilborn, Judy Nichols, and Stephanie Cook

March 31, 2000

Seagate Technology Inc., the world's No. 1 maker of computer disk drives, announced a $20 billion transaction with Veritas Software and an investment group led by Silver Lake Partners to make itself private. As part of the complex deal, Mountain View, Calif.-based Veritas, the biggest maker of storage management software, will acquire all its shares held by Seagate of Scotts Valley, Calif. And the investor group, which includes Seagate management, will acquire the Seagate operating businesses for about $2 billion in cash. The deal will create the biggest private high-tech firm in Silicon Valley.

Two facility management specialists, Philadelphia's SMG and Houston's LMI, said they'll merge to create the largest management company of public-assembly facilities in the world. The combined company would service almost 100 stadiums, arenas, convention centers, and theaters, among them Houston's Astrodome, Mile High Stadium in Denver, Soldier Field in Chicago, and Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

Nationwide Mutual Insurance, third-largest in the 401k pension-plan market, won a bidding war with four European competitors for Gartmore Investment Management Plc., a London-based specialist investment management company. The purchase was valued at $1.64 billion. Nationwide's headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.