-----BEGIN PRIVACY-ENHANCED MESSAGE----- Proc-Type: 2001,MIC-CLEAR Originator-Name: webmaster@www.sec.gov Originator-Key-Asymmetric: MFgwCgYEVQgBAQICAf8DSgAwRwJAW2sNKK9AVtBzYZmr6aGjlWyK3XmZv3dTINen TWSM7vrzLADbmYQaionwg5sDW3P6oaM5D3tdezXMm7z1T+B+twIDAQAB MIC-Info: RSA-MD5,RSA, ALadvrmbkxHzkwx/8SlN++7/gF9kCe/p4vDCr/D25eCZIN2hWjFH/bnWe1TZNdjV 2fbxdAfTVNxyjZLuIG8vMw== 0001193125-04-036475.txt : 20040309 0001193125-04-036475.hdr.sgml : 20040309 20040308173521 ACCESSION NUMBER: 0001193125-04-036475 CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE: SC 13D PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT: 10 FILED AS OF DATE: 20040309 SUBJECT COMPANY: COMPANY DATA: COMPANY CONFORMED NAME: MERANT PLC CENTRAL INDEX KEY: 0000881581 STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION: COMPUTER PERIPHERAL EQUIPMENT, NEC [3577] IRS NUMBER: 000000000 STATE OF INCORPORATION: Y5 FISCAL YEAR END: 0430 FILING VALUES: FORM TYPE: SC 13D SEC ACT: 1934 Act SEC FILE NUMBER: 005-45819 FILM NUMBER: 04655575 BUSINESS ADDRESS: STREET 1: THE LAWN OLD BATH ROAD STREET 2: NEWBURY CITY: NEWBURY ENGLAND STATE: X0 ZIP: 00000 BUSINESS PHONE: 3018385468 MAIL ADDRESS: STREET 1: MERANT INC STREET 2: 3445 NW 211TH TERRACE CITY: HILLSBORO STATE: OR ZIP: 97124 FORMER COMPANY: FORMER CONFORMED NAME: MICRO FOCUS GROUP PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY DATE OF NAME CHANGE: 19950728 FILED BY: COMPANY DATA: COMPANY CONFORMED NAME: SERENA SOFTWARE INC CENTRAL INDEX KEY: 0001073967 STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION: SERVICES-PREPACKAGED SOFTWARE [7372] IRS NUMBER: 942669809 STATE OF INCORPORATION: DE FISCAL YEAR END: 0131 FILING VALUES: FORM TYPE: SC 13D BUSINESS ADDRESS: STREET 1: 2755 CAMPUS DRIVE STREET 2: 3RD FLOOR CITY: SAN MATEO STATE: CA ZIP: 94403-2538 BUSINESS PHONE: 6505226600 MAIL ADDRESS: STREET 1: 2755 CAMPUS DRIVE STREET 2: 3RD FLOOR CITY: SAN MATEO STATE: CA ZIP: 94403-2538 SC 13D 1 dsc13d.htm SCHEDULE 13D Schedule 13D

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 


 

SCHEDULE 13D

(Rule 13d-101)

 

Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

(Amendment No.     )

 

Merant Plc


(Name of Issuer)

 

Ordinary Shares of 2p each

 

American Depository Shares


(Title of Class of Securities)

 

GB0002483831: ISIN for Ordinary Shares

 

537336108: CUSIP for American Depository Shares


(CUSIP Number)

 

Vita Strimaitis

Vice President, General Counsel and

Secretary

SERENA Software, Inc.

2755 Campus Drive, 3rd Floor

San Mateo, California, 94403

(650) 522-6600

 

with copies to:

Kenneth R. Lamb

Stewart L. McDowell

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

One Montgomery Street, 31st Floor

San Francisco, CA 94104

(415) 393-8200

(Name, Address and Telephone Number of Person

Authorized to Receive Notices and Communications)

 

March 3, 2004


(Date of Event which Requires Filing of this Statement)

 

If the filing person has previously filed a statement on Schedule 13G to report the acquisition that is the subject of this Schedule 13D, and is filing this schedule because of Rule 13d-1(e), 13d-1(f) or 13d-1(g), check the following box: ¨

 

Note: Schedules filed in paper format shall include a signed original and five copies of the schedule, including all exhibits. See Rule 13d-7(b) for other parties to whom copies are to be sent.

 

(Continued on following pages)

 

(Page 1 of 12 Pages)

 


* The remainder of this cover page shall be filled out for a reporting person’s initial filing on this form with respect to the subject class of securities, and for any subsequent amendment containing information which would alter disclosures provided in a prior cover page.

 

The information required on the remainder of this cover page shall not be deemed to be “filed” for the purpose of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section of the Exchange Act but shall be subject to all other provisions of the Exchange Act (however, see the Notes).


       

Page    2    of   12   Pages


         

CUSIP No. 0248383 (Ordinary Shares) and 537336108 (American Depository Shares)

 


1  

NAME OF REPORTING PERSON

I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NO. OF ABOVE PERSON

 

SERENA Software, Inc.

94-2669809


2  

CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP*

 

(a)  ¨

(b)  ¨


3  

SEC USE ONLY

 

 


4  

SOURCE OF FUNDS*

 

OO


5   CHECK BOX IF DISCLOSURE OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IS REQUIRED PURSUANT TO ITEMS 2(d) OR 2(e)     ¨

6  

CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION

 

Delaware


    7  

SOLE VOTING POWER

 

 

0

   

NUMBER OF

SHARES

BENEFICIALLY

OWNED BY

EACH

REPORTING

PERSON

WITH

  8  

SHARED VOTING POWER

 

7,796,877(1)

 
  9  

SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER

 

0

   
    10  

SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER

 

 

0


11  

AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON

 

 

7,796,877(1)


12  

CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (11) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES*

¨

 


13  

PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (11)

 

 

7.39%


14  

TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON*

 

 

CO


*SEE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE FILLING OUT!

 

(1) The Reporting Person may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of 7,796,877 shares under the Director Undertakings (as defined below) and the Irrevocable Undertaking (as defined below) described in Item 4. The Reporting Person disclaims beneficial ownership of any shares of common stock covered by the Director Undertakings and Irrevocable Undertaking.


       

Page    3    of   12   Pages


         

Item 1—Security and Issuer

 

This statement on Schedule 13D relates to the Ordinary Shares of 2p each (“Merant Shares”) and American Depositary Shares representing Ordinary Shares (“Merant ADS”) of Merant plc, a public limited company incorporated in England and Wales (“Merant”), the principal executive offices of which are located at Abbey View, Everard Close, St. Albans, Herts, AL12PS, United Kingdom.

 

Item 2—Identity and Background

 

(a) – (c) This statement on Schedule 13D is filed by SERENA Software, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“SERENA”). SERENA is an industry leader in Enterprise Change Management, or EMC, solutions focused on the mainframe platform. For over twenty years SERENA has focused exclusively on providing solutions that help companies automate change to the applications that run their businesses. Today SERENA’s products are in use at over 3,600 customer sites – including 46 of the Fortune 50. SERENA believes its SERENA Application Framework for Enterprises (“SAFE”) is the next step in ECM, providing cross-platform, cross-process and cross-organizational support across application life cycle processes. With headquarters in San Mateo, California, we serve customers worldwide through local offices and an international network of distributors. The address of SERENA’s principal place of business is 2755 Campus Drive, 3rd Floor, San Mateo, California, 94403.

 

The name, residence or business address, present principal occupation or employment of each of the executive officers and directors of SERENA, and the name, principal business and address of any corporation or other organization in which such employment is conducted, are set forth on Schedule I hereto.

 

(d) & (e) During the last five years SERENA, and to the best knowledge of SERENA, its executive officers and directors named on Schedule I hereto (i) have not been convicted in a criminal proceeding (excluding traffic violations or similar misdemeanors) or (ii) have not been a party to a civil proceeding of a judicial or administrative body of competent jurisdiction and as a result of such proceeding was or is subject to a judgment, decree or final order enjoining future violations of, or prohibiting or mandating activities subject to, federal or state securities laws or finding any violation with respect to such laws.

 

(f) SERENA is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware. All of the executive officers and directors of SERENA are citizens of the United States except for Kevin C. Parker, who is a citizen of the United Kingdom.

 

Item 3—Source and Amount of Funds or Other Consideration

 

On March 3, 2004, the boards of directors of SERENA and Merant announced that they had reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash and share Offer to be made by SERENA, and by Lehman Brothers Europe Limited (“Lehman”) on behalf of SERENA outside of the United States, for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Merant, including Merant Shares represented by ADSs (the “Offer”). The Offer will be made on the following basis:

 


for every 1 Merant Share   136.5 pence in cash and 0.04966 of a new share of SERENA common stock, par value $0.001 (each a “SERENA Share”)

for every 1 Merant ADSs   682.5 pence in cash and 0.2483 of a new SERENA Share


       

Page    4    of   12   Pages


         

 

A Merant securityholder may request to vary the proportion of SERENA shares and cash such securityholder will receive pursuant to a mix and match election, including by electing to receive only cash or only new SERENA shares. However, a mix and match election will only be satisfied to the extent that other Merant securityholders make opposite elections.

 

The exchange ratio is based on a valuation of 195 pence for each Merant Share. On this basis the Offer values the entire issued share capital of Merant at approximately £206 million (US$381 million). If SERENA acquires more than 90% of the outstanding Merant Shares (including Merant Shares represented by ADSs) it will be able to effect a compulsory acquisition procedure in accordance with the United Kingdom Companies Act, and upon consummation thereof, Merant would become a wholly owned subsidiary of SERENA.

 

The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both SERENA and Merant. Each of the directors of Merant, being J. Michael Gullard, Gerald Perkel, Harold Hughes, Michel Berty, Barry X Lynn, and Don C. Watters ( the “Merant Directors”), have given irrevocable undertakings to SERENA and Lehman (the “Director Undertakings”) pursuant to which they have agreed, subject to the terms and conditions set forth therein, to accept the Offer and to vote (on certain resolutions bearing on the Offer) their combined total of approximately 0.36% of the Merant Shares as directed by SERENA. The Director Undertakings are described in more detail in Item 6. The Director Undertaking between SERENA, Lehman, Merant and J. Michael Gullard is incorporated herein by reference and is attached as Exhibit 1 hereto. The Director Undertaking between SERENA, Lehman, Merant and Gerald Perkel is incorporated herein by reference and is attached as Exhibit 2 hereto. The Director Undertaking between SERENA, Lehman, Merant and Harold Hughes is incorporated herein by reference and is attached as Exhibit 3 hereto. The Director Undertaking between SERENA, Lehman, Merant and Michel Berty is incorporated herein by reference and is attached as Exhibit 4 hereto. The Director Undertaking between SERENA, Lehman, Merant and Barry X Lynn is incorporated herein by reference and is attached as Exhibit 5 hereto. The Director Undertaking between SERENA, Lehman, Merant and Don C. Watters is incorporated herein by reference and is attached as Exhibit 6 hereto. The Director undertakings cease to be binding only if the Offer lapses or is withdrawn or if the Offer Document is not posted within 28 days of March 3, 2003, the date of the announcement of the Offer (or such longer period as may be agreed with the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers (the “Panel”), the body which regulates takeover Offers in the United Kingdom).

 

SERENA and Merant have entered into an agreement (the “Inducement Agreement”) pursuant to which Merant has agreed not to solicit a takeover Offer from any third party and to pay £2.06 million (US$3.79 million) to SERENA if the Offer lapses or is withdrawn under certain circumstances or if the Merant Directors withdraw or modify their recommendation. The Inducement Agreement contains certain confirmations relating to the granting of option rights and the issuance of new Merant Shares and certain confirmations regarding Merant Shares issued pursuant to various option plans of Merant. The Inducement Agreement is described in more detail in Item 6. The Inducement Agreement between SERENA and Merant is incorporated herein by reference and is attached as Exhibit 7 hereto.

 

One of Merant’s principal shareholders, Merant Trustees Limited has also given an undertaking (the “Irrevocable Undertaking”) with SERENA and Lehman pursuant to which Merant Trustees Limited has agreed, subject to the terms and conditions set forth therein, to accept the Offer and to vote its 7.03% as directed by SERENA. The Irrevocable Undertaking is described in more detail in Item 6 below. The Irrevocable Undertaking with Merant Trustees Limited is incorporated herein by reference and is attached as Exhibit 8 hereto.

 

SERENA intends to fund the cash component of the Offer from SERENA’s existing cash resources.


       

Page    5    of   12   Pages


         

 

Item 4—Purpose of Transaction

 

The information contained in Item 3 above is incorporated herein by this reference.

 

Following the consummation of the Offer, SERENA intends to apply to the UK Listing Authority to have the Merant Shares delisted, apply to the London Stock Exchange to have the Merant Shares cease trading, apply to NASDAQ to have the ADSs delisted, terminate the deposit agreement through which the ADS program is operated and seek to have the registration of the Merant Shares and the ADSs under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) terminated.

 

SERENA will continue to evaluate all aspects of the business, operations, capitalization and management of Merant during the pendency of the Offer and after the consummation of the Offer and will take such actions as it deems appropriate with respect to Merant and its subsidiaries (the “Merant Group”) after consummation of the Offer. SERENA is evaluating whether to reorganize and streamline the entities of Merant and its subsidiaries following the consummation of the offer. SERENA may, if it deems appropriate, divest certain assets of the Merant Group following the consummation of the Offer, though it has no current plans to do so.

 

When the offer becomes or is declared unconditional in all respects, SERENA intends to procure the making of an application by Merant for the removal of Merant shares from the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and for the cancellation of trading in Merant shares on the London Stock Exchange’s market for listed securities and also for the de-listing of Merant ADSs and Merant shares (the Merant shares do not trade on Nasdaq and are listed on Nasdaq only in connection with the ADS program) from Nasdaq. It is anticipated that cancellation of listing from the Official List and cancellation of trading on the London Stock Exchange will take effect no earlier than 20 business days after the Offer becomes or is declared unconditional in all respects.

 

Except as otherwise discussed in this document, SERENA has no present plans or proposals that would result in any extraordinary corporate transaction, such as an acquisition, reorganization, liquidation involving Merant or any of its subsidiaries, or purchase, sale or transfer of a material amount of assets of Merant or any of its subsidiaries or in any other material changes to Merant’s capitalization, dividend policy, corporate structure, business or composition of the board of directors of Merant or the management of Merant, though it may develop such plans during the course of its continuing evaluation of Merant and its subsidiaries. Any such plans would be implemented after the completion of the Offer.

 

Item 5—Interest in Securities of the Issuer

 

The information contained in Item 3 and Item 4 is incorporated herein by this reference.

 

(a) Prior to June 1, 2003, each of the Reporting Persons, and to the best of their knowledge, each of the persons listed on Schedule 1, was not the beneficial owner (as defined in Rule 13d-3 promulgated under the Exchange Act) of any Merant Shares. As a result of the Director Undertakings and the Irrevocable Undertaking, SERENA may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of 7,796,877 Merant Shares, which would represent approximately 7.39% of the Merant Shares (including Merant Shares represented by ADSs) outstanding (based on 105,516,545 Merant Shares outstanding as of March 2, 2004).

 

(b) Pursuant to the Director Undertakings and the Irrevocable Undertaking, SERENA has shared power to vote all the Merant Shares owned by the Directors and Merant Trustees Limited (7,796,877 Merant Shares) in the limited circumstances set forth in the Director Undertakings and the Irrevocable Undertaking. Other than with respect to the voting rights granted to SERENA pursuant to the Director Undertakings and the


       

Page    6    of   12   Pages


         

 

Irrevocable Undertaking, SERENA does not have the right to vote the Merant Shares on any other matters. SERENA does not have any power to dispose or direct the disposition of any of the Merant Shares.

 

(c) Except as set forth in this Schedule 13D, neither SERENA nor, to the best of SERENA’s knowledge, any of the persons listed on Schedule I attached hereto, beneficially owns or has effected any transactions in the Merant Shares during the past 60 days.

 

(d) Except as set forth in this Schedule 13D, neither SERENA nor, to the knowledge of SERENA, any of the persons listed on Schedule I has the right to receive or the power to direct the receipt of dividends from, or the proceeds of sale of, securities covered by this Schedule 13D.

 

(e) Not applicable.

 

Item 6—Contracts, Arrangements, Understandings or Relationships with Respect to Securities of the Issuer

 

Except as described herein, neither SERENA nor, to the best of SERENA’s knowledge, the persons named in Schedule I hereto has any contracts, arrangements, understandings or relationships (legal or otherwise) with any persons with respect to any securities of Merant, including, but not limited to, transfers or voting of any securities, finder’s fees, joint ventures, loan or option arrangements, puts or calls, guarantees or profits, division of profits or loss, or the giving or withholding of proxies.

 

  1. Director Undertakings

 

Pursuant to the Director Undertakings, each of the Directors has undertaken to SERENA that they will accept the Offer. Each director has also agreed that, until the date on which the Offer becomes wholly unconditional or is withdrawn or lapses, he shall not exercise the voting rights attached to his Merant shares (representing an aggregate of approximately 0.1 per cent. of the Merant shares) in any manner which would frustrate the Offer or prevent the Offer becoming or being declared unconditional and will exercise such voting right against any resolution (i) for the winding up of the Company, (ii) to increase or reduce the share capital of the Company, (iii) to authorize the allotment or issue of securities, (iv) amend the memorandum or articles of association or (v) approve any acquisition by the Company of its own shares or any resolution to approve any compromise or arrangement under Section 425 of the Companies Act. Each director has also undertaken to use his best efforts to provide all reasonable assistance as may be requested in connection with the Offer.

 

The terms of the director undertakings are the same in all material respects except for the amount of Merant shares involved and, in the case of Gerald Perkel who has, the directors have undertaken to accept the Offer in respect of not only existing Merant shares but Merant shares that derived from options.

 

J. Michael Gullard owns 126,744 Merant Shares. Gerald Perkel owns a total of 24,758 Merant Shares and is entitled to receive 1,500,000 Merant Shares pursuant to option plans. Harold Hughes owns a total of 134,758 Merant Shares. Michel Berty owns a total of 24,758 Merant Shares. Barry X. Lynn owns a total of 24,758 Merant Shares. Finally, Don C. Watters owns a total of 24,758 Merant Shares.

 

  2. Inducement Agreement

 

SERENA and Merant have entered into an agreement (the “Inducement Agreement”) pursuant to which, in consideration of, and as an inducement to, SERENA making an Offer for Merant, Merant has agreed to pay SERENA a fee of £2.06 million (US$3.79 million based on an exchange rate of US$1.8386 : £1.00 as of March 2, 2003) in certain limited circumstances. Save in certain limited circumstances including failure to obtain


       

Page    7    of   12   Pages


         

 

approval for the Offer under the HSR Act or other applicable antitrust law, this fee is payable on either of the following events:

 

(a) if a higher competing Offer or other competing transaction (or an intention to do either) is publicly announced by a third party, and the Merant Board fails to reaffirm its unanimous recommendation of the Offer and subsequently the Offer lapses or is withdrawn; or

 

(b) if the Board of Merant withdraws or modifies its recommendation of the Offer.

 

Merant has also agreed that it will not solicit, initiate, seek, encourage, facilitate or support any inquiry, proposal or Offer from, furnish any information to, or participate in any discussions or negotiations with, any third party regarding any acquisition of Merant, any acquisition or consolidation with or involving Merant, or any sale or acquisition of any material portion of the stock or assets of Merant, referred to as an alternative proposal. Merant may respond to an unsolicited alternative proposal by conducting discussions. Supplying information and taking such other actions (including in the case of the board of directors, recommending any alternative proposal to Merant’s securityholders) so far as Merant board of directors has in good faith conducted (following receipt of advice of its outside legal counsel and its financial advisor), they are required to do so to comply with the directors’ fiduciary duties or their obligations under the City Code or other applicable law. Merant has agreed to notify SERENA promptly after receipt of any proposal for, or inquiry respecting, any third party acquisition transaction, any material developments with respect thereto, or any request for information in connection with such a proposal or inquiry, on an ongoing basis. The notice must indicate the material terms and conditions of any acquisition proposal or inquiry, or developments.

 

Merant has also agreed with SERENA that it will not, until the Offer has lapsed or been withdrawn, issue new Merant Shares, except as required pursuant to options or awards previously outstanding under the (a) 2003 Share Incentive Plan and 2003 Employee Benefit Trust, the 1999 Employee Share Purchase Plan and the 1994 Employee Benefit Trust (collectively, the “Trust Plans”) and (b) the 1998 Share Option Plan, the 1997 Intersolv Employee Stock Option Plan, the 1992 Intersolv Employee Stock Option Plan and the 1996 Share Option Plan (collectively, the “Option Schemes”).

 

The Inducement Agreement also contains details regarding how the exercise of share options under the Trust Plans and Option Schemes are to be satisfied. Merant agrees to procure that, during the period of the Offer, no further awards or grants of options will be made under the Trust Plans or Option Schemes and that Merant will not allot or issue any further share capital except as required by the Trust Plans and Option Schemes.

 

  3. Irrevocable Undertaking with Merant Trustees Limited

 

The terms of the Irrevocable Undertaking with Merant Trustees Limited involves 7,415,448 Merant Shares (representing 7.03% of Merant’s existing share capital). Pursuant to the Irrevocable Undertaking, Merant Trustees Limited has undertaken to SERENA that it will accept the Offer. Merant Trustees Limited has also agreed that, until the date on which the Offer ceases to be open for acceptance, Merant Trustees Limited will exercise the voting rights attached to its Merant Shares in connection with certain resolutions relating to the Offer only in accordance with SERENA’s directions.

 

The Irrevocable Undertaking by Merant Trustees Limited ceases to be binding only (i) if the Offer lapses or is withdrawn, (ii) if the Offer document is not posted within 28 days of March 3, 2004, the date of the announcement of the Offer (or such longer period as may be agreed with the Panel) or (iii) if a higher Offer is


       

Page    8    of   12   Pages


         

 

made by a third party: (a) which is recommended by Merant and SERENA has not increased its Offer within 7 days or (b) such Offer is declared unconditional in all respects.

 

Item 7—Material to be Filed as Exhibits

 

EXHIBIT    DESCRIPTION
1    Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 by and among SERENA Software, Inc., Lehman Brothers Europe Limited, Merant plc and J. Michael Gullard
2    Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 by and among SERENA Software, Inc., Lehman Brothers Europe Limited, Merant plc and Gerald Perkel
3    Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 by and among SERENA Software, Inc., Lehman Brothers Europe Limited, Merant plc and Harold Hughes
4    Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 by and among SERENA Software, Inc., Lehman Brothers Europe Limited, Merant plc and Michel Berty
5    Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 by and among SERENA Software, Inc., Lehman Brothers Europe Limited, Merant plc and Barry X Lynn
6    Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 by and among SERENA Software, Inc., Lehman Brothers Europe Limited, Merant plc and Don C. Watters
7    Inducement Agreement dated March 3, 2004 by and among SERENA Software, Inc. and Merant plc
8    Trustees Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 3, 2004 by and among SERENA Software, Inc., Lehman Brothers Europe Limited and Merant Trustees Limited

 


SIGNATURE

 

After reasonable inquiry and to the best of my knowledge and belief, the undersigned certifies that the information set forth in this statement is true, complete and correct.

 

Dated as of March 8, 2004.

     

SERENA SOFTWARE, INC.

            By:   /s/ Vita Strimaitis
               
               

Vita Strimaitis

Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary


       

Page    10    of   12   Pages


         

 

SCHEDULE I

 

DIRECTORS OF SERENA SOFTWARE, INC.

 

The following is a list of all directors of SERENA Software, Inc. and certain other information with respect to each director. Unless otherwise indicated, each director’s business address is 2755 Campus Drive, 3rd Floor, San Mateo, California, 94403, which address is SERENA Software, Inc.’s business address. All directors are United States citizens except as indicated below.

 

Name


 

Principal Occupation or Employment


 

Name and Address of Corporation or
Employment/ Organization in Which
Employed


Douglas D. Troxel*   Chairman of the Board and Chief Technology Officer   SERENA
Mark E. Woodward*   President and Chief Executive Officer and Director   SERENA
Robert I. Pender, Jr.*   Vice President, Finance and Administration, Chief Financial Officer and Director   SERENA
J. Hallam Dawson   Director   Chairman of IDI Associates (a private Latin American investment bank)
Gregory J. Owens   Director  

Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Manugistics Group, Inc.

 

9715 Key West Avenue

Rockville, MD 20850

David G. DeWalt   Director  

President of Documentum, Inc., a division of EMC, as well as a Executive Vice President of EMC

 

6801 Koll Center Parkway

Pleasanton, CA. 94566

Carl Bass   Director  

Senior Executive Vice President, Design Solutions Group for Autodesk, Inc.

 

111 McInnis Parkway

San Rafael, CA 94903


       

Page    11    of   12   Pages


         

 

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF SERENA SOFTWARE, INC.

 

The following is a list of all executive officers of SERENA Software, Inc. excluding executive officers who are also directors. Unless otherwise indicated, each officer’s business address is 2755 Campus Drive, 3rd Floor, San Mateo, California, 94403, which address is SERENA Software, Inc.’s business address. All officers are United States citizens except as indicated below.

 

Name


  

Principal Occupation or Employment


L. Evan Ellis, Jr.    Chief Operating Officer

Kevin C. Parker

Citizen of United Kingdom

   Vice President, Research and Development
Vita A. Strimaitis    Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary


       

Page    12    of   12   Pages


         

 

EXHIBIT INDEX

 

EXHIBIT    DESCRIPTION
1    Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 by and among SERENA Software, Inc., Lehman Brothers Europe Limited, Merant plc and J. Michael Gullard
2    Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 by and among SERENA Software, Inc., Lehman Brothers Europe Limited, Merant plc and Gerald Perkel
3    Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 by and among SERENA Software, Inc., Lehman Brothers Europe Limited, Merant plc and Harold Hughes
4    Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 by and among SERENA Software, Inc., Lehman Brothers Europe Limited, Merant plc and Michel Berty
5    Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 by and among SERENA Software, Inc., Lehman Brothers Europe Limited, Merant plc and Barry X Lynn
6    Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 by and among SERENA Software, Inc., Lehman Brothers Europe Limited, Merant plc and Don C. Watters
7    Inducement Agreement dated March 3, 2004 by and among SERENA Software, Inc. and Merant plc
8    Trustees Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 3, 2004 by and among SERENA Software, Inc., Lehman Brothers Europe Limited and Merant Trustees Limited
EX-1 3 dex1.htm DIRECTOR IRREVOCABLE UNDERTAKING DATED MARCH 2004 - J. MICHAEL GULLARD Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 - J. Michael Gullard

EXHIBIT 1

 

DIRECTOR’S IRREVOCABLE UNDERTAKING

 

(J. Michael Gullard)

 

Serena Software, Inc.

2755 Campus Drive

3rd Floor

San Mateo

California 94403

USA

 

Lehman Brothers Europe Limited

25 Bank Street

London E14 5LE

UK

 

March 2004

 

Dear Sirs,

 

Recommended Offer for Merant Plc (the “Offeree”)

 

I refer to the press announcement (the “Press Announcement”) shortly to be released by Lehman Brothers Europe Limited (the “Bank”) (subject to paragraph 2) in the form attached setting out the principal terms and the conditions upon which the Bank will on behalf of Serena Software, Inc. (the “Offeror”) outside the United States, and the Offeror will on its own behalf in the United States, make the offer (the “Offer”) to acquire the whole of the issued ordinary share capital of the Offeree (including ordinary shares represented by American Depository Shares) and any ordinary shares of the Offeree which are issued whilst the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

In consideration of the Offeror agreeing to make the Offer (subject to paragraph 14 below), I, the undersigned, hereby irrevocably confirm, warrant and undertake that:

 

1.    (a) I am the registered holder and beneficial owner of the number of ordinary shares of £0.02 each in the Offeree (“Ordinary Shares”) set out in Column 1 of Part 1 the First Schedule hereto (such Ordinary Shares and any other securities in the Offeree attributable to or derived from such Ordinary Shares whilst the Offer remains open for acceptance and any other Ordinary Shares to which I may become entitled being herein referred to as the “Shares”), such Ordinary Shares are the only shares in the capital of the Offeree in which I have an interest and (save for this irrevocable undertaking) I have not accepted any offer or entered into any agreement or arrangement, whether conditionally or otherwise, to sell, transfer, grant any option over or otherwise dispose of, or which could result in any such disposal or to create any lien, charge or encumbrance over, all or any of the Shares or any interest therein;


      (b) I will accept the Offer in respect of the Shares not later than ten business days after the date on which the offer document relating to the Offer (the “Offer Document”) is posted to the shareholders of the Offeree, and I will forward, with such acceptance, the share certificates or other documents of title in respect of the Shares and/or transfer the Shares to an escrow balance, specifying the person identified in the terms and conditions of the Offer Document (in its capacity as CREST participant) as the escrow agent as soon as possible and in any event so that the relevant documents of title are received and/or the transfer to escrow settles no later than ten business days after the Offer Document is posted and unless the Offer lapses or is withdrawn I will not withdraw such acceptance in respect of the Shares, notwithstanding that the terms of the Offer will confer a right of withdrawal on accepting shareholders in certain circumstances;

 

      (c) I shall accept or procure acceptance of the Offer in respect of the Shares (if the Offer is made and does not lapse and is not withdrawn), and will transfer the Shares to the Offeror with full title guarantee free from all liens, charges, encumbrances and other equities or third party rights of any nature whatsoever and with all rights attaching thereto including all rights to any dividends or other distributions hereafter declared, paid or made in respect thereof (other than as provided for by the terms of the Offer);

 

      (d) unless and until the Offer has lapsed or is withdrawn, I will not (save pursuant to the Offer) enter into any agreement, arrangement or obligation which would or could result at any time in the sale, transfer, grant of any option over or other disposal howsoever of, or the creation of any lien, charge or encumbrance over, all or any of the Shares or of any interest therein. For the avoidance of doubt, references in this paragraph to any agreement, arrangement or obligation include any agreement, arrangement or obligation whether or not legally binding or subject to any condition or which is to take effect if the Offer closes or lapses or if this undertaking ceases to be binding or in any other event;

 

      (e) unless and until the Offer has lapsed or is withdrawn, I will not without the prior written consent of the Offeror acquire or agree to acquire any further shares or any interest in any further shares in the Offeree (except pursuant to the exercise of my Options) (as defined below);

 

      (f) I do not hold and am not entitled to any options under the Merant Share Schemes (as defined in the Press Announcement).

 

2. Subject to paragraph 3 below, the Press Announcement shall be in the form of the draft attached hereto, subject to any amendments or additions (other than to the amount of the consideration and cash consideration) which may be agreed between the Bank (on behalf of the Offeror) and UBS Limited (on behalf of the Offeree).

 

3. The terms and conditions of the Offer will be as set out in the Press Announcement subject to any amendments as may be required to comply with the requirements of the Financial Services Authority, the United Kingdom Listing Authority, the London Stock Exchange plc, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers and the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

2


4. In accordance with the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the “Code”), the Offer Document will contain particulars of this irrevocable undertaking and of my holdings of, and dealings in the last twelve months in, the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree and this irrevocable undertaking will be available for inspection while the Offer remains open for acceptance. Details of my current holdings in the share capital of the Offeree are set out in the First Schedule to this irrevocable undertaking and details of my dealings in the last twelve months in the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree are set out in the Second Schedule to this irrevocable undertaking. Until such time as the Offer is declared or becomes wholly unconditional or lapses or is withdrawn, I will promptly notify the Bank or the Offeror in writing of details of any changes to my holdings of, and any further dealings in, the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree for inclusion in the Offer Document together with such other information as the Offeror or the Bank may reasonably require concerning myself in connection with the Offer (including without limitation the preparation of the formal offer documents) and such other matters as are required in order to comply with applicable law or any other obligations under applicable regulations (including the Code).

 

5. I consent to the issue of the Press Announcement (subject to any amendments made in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3) incorporating references (if any) to me and to this irrevocable undertaking substantially in the terms set out in the Press Announcement and the Offer Document and to its being made available for inspection while the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

6. At all times after the date hereof and until the Offer shall become or be declared unconditional in all respects or shall lapse or be withdrawn I shall (in my capacity as a shareholder of the Offeree and for the avoidance of doubt, subject to my fiduciary duties as a director and any other obligations applicable to directors under applicable law and regulation including the Code) refrain from taking any action or making any statement which (so far as I am aware) would or is likely to be prejudicial to the success of the Offer, including without limitation making any statement which refers to the Offeror before the Press Announcement is released (unless such statement is required by law or regulation including the Code or made at the request of The Offeror in discussions with any shareholder from whom the Offeror is seeking irrevocable undertakings), soliciting any other offer by any third party for any part of the issued share capital or (other than in the ordinary course of business) assets of the Offeree or (except so far as required by my fiduciary duties under law or the Code, and only in response to an unsolicited approach) entering into discussions or negotiations with, or providing any information to, or facilitating in any way any offer by such third party.

 

3


7. Pending the Offer becoming wholly unconditional or being withdrawn or lapsing and in my capacity as a shareholder and subject to my fiduciary duties as a director and any other obligations applicable to directors under applicable law and regulation including the Code:

 

  (a) I shall not exercise or permit the exercise of the voting rights attaching to the Shares or Option Shares in any manner which would frustrate the Offer or prevent the Offer becoming or being declared unconditional in all respects;

 

  (b) save as permitted under the terms of the letter agreement entered into between the Offeree and the Offeror on the date hereof, I shall, unless otherwise agreed by the Offeror (in its absolute discretion) exercise or procure the exercise of such voting rights against any resolution which may be proposed for the winding up of the Company and any resolution to increase the authorised share capital or reduce the share capital of the Company or to authorise or empower the directors of the Company to allot or issue securities or to amend the memorandum or articles of association of the Company or to approve any acquisition by the Company of its own shares or any resolution to approve any compromise or arrangement under section 425 of the Companies Act 1985,

 

     provided that I am not prevented by any legal or regulatory obligation from voting as aforesaid.

 

8. As a director of the Offeree and subject at all times to my fiduciary duties as a director and the requirements applicable to directors of all applicable laws and regulations (including the Code):

 

  (a) I agree to provide all reasonable assistance as may be requested to enable the Offeror to make the Offer and to prepare the Offer Document and all related and ancillary documents in accordance with the requirements of the Code, the Financial Services Authority, the United Kingdom Listing Authority, the London Stock Exchange plc, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers and the US Securities and Exchange Commission and any other legal or regulatory requirement or body;

 

  (b) I agree to use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that (at all reasonable times following the release of the Press Announcement and before the Offer becomes unconditional in all respects or lapses or is withdrawn) the Offeror and its advisers are provided with such information regarding the Offeree as the Offeror reasonably requires to enable the Offeror to establish whether or not the conditions of the Offer are satisfied;

 

  (c) if the Offer becomes unconditional in all respects, I agree to join in a resolution to approve the appointment as director(s) of the Offeree of anyone nominated by the Offeror and, if required by the Offeror, I shall resign as a director of the Offeree but without prejudice to any entitlement I may have under any service agreement or other arrangement with the Company.

 

9. All references in this irrevocable undertaking to the “Offer” shall include any revised offer or offers which have the same or an increased cash amount and which in the opinion of the Bank and UBS Limited constitute an increase or improvement in the consideration being offered from that offered in the original offer (as previously revised, if at all) made by or on behalf of the Offeror to acquire the whole of the issued share capital of the Offeree and any Ordinary Shares of the Offeree which are issued while the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

4


10. I acknowledge that, if I fail to accept or procure the acceptance of the Offer in accordance with my obligations under paragraph 1(b) damages alone would not be an adequate remedy and that an order for specific performance would be an essential element of any adequate remedy for such failure or breach.

 

11. If the Offer Document has not been posted within 28 days after the date of the Press Announcement (or within such longer period, being not more than 42 days after the date of the Press Announcement as the Offeror, with the consent of the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers, determines) or the Offer lapses or is withdrawn without having become or been declared wholly unconditional, all obligations under this irrevocable undertaking will lapse and no party shall have any further obligations under it or any claim against any other save in respect of any antecedent breach of its terms.

 

12. This irrevocable undertaking and the Offeror’s obligation to make the Offer is conditional upon the release of the Press Announcement on or before 5.00pm on 5th March 2004.

 

     In the event that such condition fails to be satisfied by the appropriate time and date mentioned above or in the event that the Offer lapses or is withdrawn, this irrevocable undertaking shall automatically lapse and be of no further force or effect and no party hereto shall have any claim against the other save in respect of any antecedent breach of its terms.

 

13. By way of security for the performance of my obligations contained in sub-paragraph 1(b) above, I hereby irrevocably appoint any director for the time being of the Offeror to be my attorney in my name and on my behalf to execute a form or forms of acceptance and/or such other documents and do such other acts and things (if any) as may be necessary to accept the Offer in respect of the Shares (or, as the case may be, to require the registered holder(s) thereof to accept the same), provided that:

 

  (a) such appointment shall not take effect until ten business days shall have elapsed from the date of the Offer Document and only then if I shall have failed to comply with my said obligations;

 

  (b) such attorney shall act in accordance with any instructions which may be given by me in respect of election for the Mix and Match Election (as defined in the Press Announcement).

 

14. I acknowledge that the Bank is acting for the Offeror in relation to the Offer and that the Bank will not regard any other person as its client in relation to the Offer and will not be responsible to any other person for the protections afforded to clients of the Bank.

 

15. This irrevocable undertaking shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England, to the exclusive jurisdiction of whose courts I and you irrevocably submit.

 

5


Yours faithfully,

 

SIGNED and delivered as a deed by

  )   

/s/ J Michael Gullard


    

J Michael Gullard,

  )          
    )          

in the presence of:

             
               

/s/ Josephine M. Stiene

             

           

Signature

Josephine M. Stiene

             

           

Name

4166 Thain Way

             

           

Address

Palo Alto, CA 94306

             

           

Executive Assistant

             

           

Occupation

             

 

6


SCHEDULE 1

 

PART 1

 

Current Shareholding

 

(1)   (2)   (3)
Number of Ordinary   Beneficial   Registered
Shares   Holder   Holder
126,774   J Michael Gullard   J Michael Gullard

 

 

7


SCHEDULE 2

 

Details of Dealings in the Last 12 Months

 


Name   Date   Transaction   Number  

Price

(£)


J Michael Gullard   8 April 2003   Acquisition   58,801   1.24

 

8

EX-2 4 dex2.htm DIRECTOR IRREVOCABLE UNDERTAKING DATED MARCH 2004 - GERALD PERKEL Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 - Gerald Perkel

EXHIBIT 2

 

DIRECTOR’S IRREVOCABLE UNDERTAKING

 

(Gerald Perkel)

 

Serena Software, Inc.

2755 Campus Drive

3rd Floor

San Mateo

California 94403

USA

 

Lehman Brothers Europe Limited

25 Bank Street

London E14 5LE

UK

 

March 2004

 

Dear Sirs,

 

Recommended Offer for Merant Plc (the “Offeree”)

 

I refer to the press announcement (the “Press Announcement”) shortly to be released by Lehman Brothers Europe Limited (the “Bank”) (subject to paragraph 2) in the form attached setting out the principal terms and the conditions upon which the Bank will on behalf of Serena Software, Inc. (the “Offeror”) outside the United States, and the Offeror will on its own behalf in the United States, make the offer (the “Offer”) to acquire the whole of the issued ordinary share capital of the Offeree (including ordinary shares represented by American Depository Shares) and any ordinary shares of the Offeree which are issued whilst the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

In consideration of the Offeror agreeing to make the Offer (subject to paragraph 14 below), I, the undersigned, hereby irrevocably confirm, warrant and undertake that:

 

1.    (a) I am the registered holder and beneficial owner of the number of ordinary shares of £0.02 each in the Offeree (“Ordinary Shares”) set out in Column 1 of Part 1 the First Schedule hereto (such Ordinary Shares and any other securities in the Offeree attributable to or derived from such Ordinary Shares whilst the Offer remains open for acceptance and any other Ordinary Shares to which I may become entitled being herein referred to as the “Shares”), such Ordinary Shares are the only shares in the capital of the Offeree in which I have an interest and (save for this irrevocable undertaking) I have not accepted any offer or entered into any agreement or arrangement, whether conditionally or otherwise, to sell, transfer, grant any option over or otherwise dispose of, or which could result in any such disposal or to create any lien, charge or encumbrance over, all or any of the Shares or any interest therein;


      (b) I will accept the Offer in respect of the Shares not later than ten business days after the date on which the offer document relating to the Offer (the “Offer Document”) is posted to the shareholders of the Offeree, and I will forward, with such acceptance, the share certificates or other documents of title in respect of the Shares and/or transfer the Shares to an escrow balance, specifying the person identified in the terms and conditions of the Offer Document (in its capacity as CREST participant) as the escrow agent as soon as possible and in any event so that the relevant documents of title are received and/or the transfer to escrow settles no later than ten business days after the Offer Document is posted and unless the Offer lapses or is withdrawn I will not withdraw such acceptance in respect of the Shares, notwithstanding that the terms of the Offer will confer a right of withdrawal on accepting shareholders in certain circumstances;

 

      (c) I shall accept or procure acceptance of the Offer in respect of the Shares (if the Offer is made and does not lapse and is not withdrawn), and will transfer the Shares and the Option Shares to the Offeror with full title guarantee free from all liens, charges, encumbrances and other equities or third party rights of any nature whatsoever and with all rights attaching thereto including all rights to any dividends or other distributions hereafter declared, paid or made in respect thereof (other than as provided for by the terms of the Offer);

 

      (d) unless and until the Offer has lapsed or is withdrawn, I will not (save pursuant to the Offer) enter into any agreement, arrangement or obligation which would or could result at any time in the sale, transfer, grant of any option over or other disposal howsoever of, or the creation of any lien, charge or encumbrance over, all or any of the Shares or Option Shares or of any interest therein. For the avoidance of doubt, references in this paragraph to any agreement, arrangement or obligation include any agreement, arrangement or obligation whether or not legally binding or subject to any condition or which is to take effect if the Offer closes or lapses or if this undertaking ceases to be binding or in any other event;

 

      (e) unless and until the Offer has lapsed or is withdrawn, I will not without the prior written consent of the Offeror acquire or agree to acquire any further shares or any interest in any further shares in the Offeree (except pursuant to the exercise of my Options) (as defined below);

 

      (f) I hold options under the 1998 Merant Share Option Plan (the “Options”) to subscribe for the number of Ordinary Shares in the Offeree set out in Part 2 of the First Schedule hereto (the “Option Shares”) and in relation thereto I will either:

 

  (i) exercise my Options that are vested or become vested upon the Offer becoming or being declared wholly unconditional within the time limit fixed for doing so under any proposals made to option holders (and in any case within two business days of the latter of (a) the proposal being made or (b) the Offer becoming wholly unconditional) and accept the Offer in respect of the resulting Shares in accordance with paragraph 1(b) immediately thereafter provided that such proposals are in accordance with the agreement made between the Offeror and the Company prior to release of the Press Announcement; or

 

2


  (ii) accept any proposal made by the Offeror to roll over any of my Options which are not exercised and accepted in accordance with paragraph (i) above within 14 days of the Offer being declared wholly unconditional.

 

      (g) I will accept any offer which the trustees of the 1994 Employee Benefit Trust or 2003 Employee Benefit Trust makes to cancel options held by me under the 1994 Employee Benefit Trust or the 2003 Share Incentive Plan in consideration of a cash payment which shall be calculated by the Trustees by reference to the difference between the offer price for the Ordinary Shares and the relevant Option exercise price.

 

2. Subject to paragraph 3 below, the Press Announcement shall be in the form of the draft attached hereto, subject to any amendments or additions (other than to the amount of the consideration and cash consideration) which may be agreed between the Bank (on behalf of the Offeror) and UBS Limited (on behalf of the Offeree).

 

3. The terms and conditions of the Offer will be as set out in the Press Announcement subject to any amendments as may be required to comply with the requirements of the Financial Services Authority, the United Kingdom Listing Authority, the London Stock Exchange plc, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers and the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

4. In accordance with the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the “Code”), the Offer Document will contain particulars of this irrevocable undertaking and of my holdings of, and dealings in the last twelve months in, the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree and this irrevocable undertaking will be available for inspection while the Offer remains open for acceptance. Details of my current holdings in the share capital of the Offeree are set out in the First Schedule to this irrevocable undertaking and details of my dealings in the last twelve months in the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree are set out in the Second Schedule to this irrevocable undertaking. Until such time as the Offer is declared or becomes wholly unconditional or lapses or is withdrawn, I will promptly notify the Bank or the Offeror in writing of details of any changes to my holdings of, and any further dealings in, the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree for inclusion in the Offer Document together with such other information as the Offeror or the Bank may reasonably require concerning myself in connection with the Offer (including without limitation the preparation of the formal offer documents) and such other matters as are required in order to comply with applicable law or any other obligations under applicable regulations (including the Code).

 

5. I consent to the issue of the Press Announcement (subject to any amendments made in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3) incorporating references (if any) to me and to this irrevocable undertaking substantially in the terms set out in the Press Announcement and the Offer Document and to its being made available for inspection while the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

3


6. At all times after the date hereof and until the Offer shall become or be declared unconditional in all respects or shall lapse or be withdrawn I shall (in my capacity as a shareholder of the Offeree and for the avoidance of doubt, subject to my fiduciary duties as a director and any other obligations applicable to directors under applicable law and regulation including the Code) refrain from taking any action or making any statement which (so far as I am aware) would or is likely to be prejudicial to the success of the Offer, including without limitation making any statement which refers to the Offeror before the Press Announcement is released (unless such statement is required by law or regulation including the Code or made at the request of The Offeror in discussions with any shareholder from whom the Offeror is seeking irrevocable undertakings), soliciting any other offer by any third party for any part of the issued share capital or (other than in the ordinary course of business) assets of the Offeree or (except so far as required by my fiduciary duties under law or the Code, and only in response to an unsolicited approach) entering into discussions or negotiations with, or providing any information to, or facilitating in any way any offer by such third party.

 

7. Pending the Offer becoming wholly unconditional or being withdrawn or lapsing and in my capacity as a shareholder and subject to my fiduciary duties as a director and any other obligations applicable to directors under applicable law and regulation including the Code:

 

  (a) I shall not exercise or permit the exercise of the voting rights attaching to the Shares or Option Shares in any manner which would frustrate the Offer or prevent the Offer becoming or being declared unconditional in all respects;

 

  (b) save as permitted under the terms of the letter agreement entered into between the Offeree and the Offeror on the date hereof, I shall, unless otherwise agreed by the Offeror (in its absolute discretion) exercise or procure the exercise of such voting rights against any resolution which may be proposed for the winding up of the Company and any resolution to increase the authorised share capital or reduce the share capital of the Company or to authorise or empower the directors of the Company to allot or issue securities or to amend the memorandum or articles of association of the Company or to approve any acquisition by the Company of its own shares or any resolution to approve any compromise or arrangement under section 425 of the Companies Act 1985,

 

     provided that I am not prevented by any legal or regulatory obligation from voting as aforesaid.

 

8. As a director of the Offeree and subject at all times to my fiduciary duties as a director and the requirements applicable to directors of all applicable laws and regulations (including the Code):

 

  (a) I agree to provide all reasonable assistance as may be requested to enable the Offeror to make the Offer and to prepare the Offer Document and all related and ancillary documents in accordance with the requirements of the Code, the Financial Services Authority, the United Kingdom Listing Authority, the London Stock Exchange plc, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers and the US Securities and Exchange Commission and any other legal or regulatory requirement or body;

 

 

4


  (b) I agree to use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that (at all reasonable times following the release of the Press Announcement and before the Offer becomes unconditional in all respects or lapses or is withdrawn) the Offeror and its advisers are provided with such information regarding the Offeree as the Offeror reasonably requires to enable the Offeror to establish whether or not the conditions of the Offer are satisfied;

 

  (c) if the Offer becomes unconditional in all respects, I agree to join in a resolution to approve the appointment as director(s) of the Offeree of anyone nominated by the Offeror and, if required by the Offeror, I shall resign as a director of the Offeree but without prejudice to any entitlement I may have under any service agreement or other arrangement with the Company.

 

9. All references in this irrevocable undertaking to the “Offer” shall include any revised offer or offers which have the same or an increased cash amount and which in the opinion of the Bank and UBS Limited constitute an increase or improvement in the consideration being offered from that offered in the original offer (as previously revised, if at all) made by or on behalf of the Offeror to acquire the whole of the issued share capital of the Offeree and any Ordinary Shares of the Offeree which are issued while the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

10. I acknowledge that, if I fail to accept or procure the acceptance of the Offer in accordance with my obligations under paragraph 1(b) damages alone would not be an adequate remedy and that an order for specific performance would be an essential element of any adequate remedy for such failure or breach.

 

11. If the Offer Document has not been posted within 28 days after the date of the Press Announcement (or within such longer period, being not more than 42 days after the date of the Press Announcement as the Offeror, with the consent of the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers, determines) or the Offer lapses or is withdrawn without having become or been declared wholly unconditional, all obligations under this irrevocable undertaking will lapse and no party shall have any further obligations under it or any claim against any other save in respect of any antecedent breach of its terms.

 

12. This irrevocable undertaking and the Offeror’s obligation to make the Offer is conditional upon the release of the Press Announcement on or before 5.00pm on 5th March 2004.

 

     In the event that such condition fails to be satisfied by the appropriate time and date mentioned above or in the event that the Offer lapses or is withdrawn, this irrevocable undertaking shall automatically lapse and be of no further force or effect and no party hereto shall have any claim against the other save in respect of any antecedent breach of its terms.

 

13. By way of security for the performance of my obligations contained in sub-paragraph 1(b) above, I hereby irrevocably appoint any director for the time being of the Offeror to be my attorney in my name and on my behalf to execute a form or forms of acceptance and/or such other documents and do such other acts and things (if any) as may be necessary to accept the Offer in respect of the Shares (or, as the case may be, to require the registered holder(s) thereof to accept the same), provided that:

 

5


  (a) such appointment shall not take effect until ten business days shall have elapsed from the date of the Offer Document and only then if I shall have failed to comply with my said obligations;

 

  (b) such attorney shall act in accordance with any instructions which may be given by me in respect of election for the Mix and Match Election (as defined in the Press Announcement).

 

14. I acknowledge that the Bank is acting for the Offeror in relation to the Offer and that the Bank will not regard any other person as its client in relation to the Offer and will not be responsible to any other person for the protections afforded to clients of the Bank.

 

15. This irrevocable undertaking shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England, to the exclusive jurisdiction of whose courts I and you irrevocably submit.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

SIGNED and delivered as a deed by

Gerald Perkel,

   )
)
)
       

/s/    Gerald Perkel


 

in the presence of:

 

/s/    Dushka Dejanovic


Signature

Dushka Dejanovic


Name

252 Hich Holbxn, ECLV7EN, London


Address

UK


Administrator


Occupation

 

 

6


SCHEDULE 1

 

PART 1

 

Current Shareholding

 

(1)

Number of Ordinary

Shares

 

(2)

Beneficial

Holder

 

(3)

Registered

Holder

45,583   Gerald Perkel   Gerald Perkel

 

PART 2

 

Share Options

 

Scheme  

Number of Shares under

Option

  Exercise Price
1998 Merant Share Option   1,100,000   69 pence
1998 Merant Share Option   400,000   69 pence

 

 

7


SCHEDULE 2

 

Details of Dealings in the Last 12 Months

 

Name   Date   Transaction   Number  

Price

(£)

Gerald Perkel   02 January 2004   Acquisition   10,718   1.1135

 

8

EX-3 5 dex3.htm DIRECTOR IRREVOCABLE UNDERTAKING DATED MARCH 2004 - HAROLD HUGHES Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 - Harold Hughes

EXHIBIT 3

 

DIRECTOR’S IRREVOCABLE UNDERTAKING

 

(Harold Hughes)

 

Serena Software, Inc.

2755 Campus Drive

3rd Floor

San Mateo

California 94403

USA

 

Lehman Brothers Europe Limited

25 Bank Street

London E14 5LE

UK

 

March 2004

 

Dear Sirs,

 

Recommended Offer for Merant Plc (the “Offeree”)

 

I refer to the press announcement (the “Press Announcement”) shortly to be released by Lehman Brothers Europe Limited (the “Bank”) (subject to paragraph 2) in the form attached setting out the principal terms and the conditions upon which the Bank will on behalf of Serena Software, Inc. (the “Offeror”) outside the United States, and the Offeror will on its own behalf in the United States, make the offer (the “Offer”) to acquire the whole of the issued ordinary share capital of the Offeree (including ordinary shares represented by American Depository Shares) and any ordinary shares of the Offeree which are issued whilst the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

In consideration of the Offeror agreeing to make the Offer (subject to paragraph 14 below), I, the undersigned, hereby irrevocably confirm, warrant and undertake that:

 

1.     (a)     I am the registered holder and beneficial owner of the number of ordinary shares of £0.02 each in the Offeree (“Ordinary Shares”) set out in Column 1 of Part 1 the First Schedule hereto (such Ordinary Shares and any other securities in the Offeree attributable to or derived from such Ordinary Shares whilst the Offer remains open for acceptance and any other Ordinary Shares to which I may become entitled being herein referred to as the “Shares”), such Ordinary Shares are the only shares in the capital of the Offeree in which I have an interest and (save for this irrevocable undertaking) I have not accepted any offer or entered into any agreement or arrangement, whether conditionally or otherwise, to sell, transfer, grant any option over or otherwise dispose of, or which could result in any such disposal or to create any lien, charge or encumbrance over, all or any of the Shares or any interest therein;


  (b) I will accept the Offer in respect of the Shares not later than ten business days after the date on which the offer document relating to the Offer (the “Offer Document”) is posted to the shareholders of the Offeree, and I will forward, with such acceptance, the share certificates or other documents of title in respect of the Shares and/or transfer the Shares to an escrow balance, specifying the person identified in the terms and conditions of the Offer Document (in its capacity as CREST participant) as the escrow agent as soon as possible and in any event so that the relevant documents of title are received and/or the transfer to escrow settles no later than ten business days after the Offer Document is posted and unless the Offer lapses or is withdrawn I will not withdraw such acceptance in respect of the Shares, notwithstanding that the terms of the Offer will confer a right of withdrawal on accepting shareholders in certain circumstances;

 

  (c) I shall accept or procure acceptance of the Offer in respect of the Shares (if the Offer is made and does not lapse and is not withdrawn), and will transfer the Shares to the Offeror with full title guarantee free from all liens, charges, encumbrances and other equities or third party rights of any nature whatsoever and with all rights attaching thereto including all rights to any dividends or other distributions hereafter declared, paid or made in respect thereof (other than as provided for by the terms of the Offer);

 

  (d) unless and until the Offer has lapsed or is withdrawn, I will not (save pursuant to the Offer) enter into any agreement, arrangement or obligation which would or could result at any time in the sale, transfer, grant of any option over or other disposal howsoever of, or the creation of any lien, charge or encumbrance over, all or any of the Shares or of any interest therein. For the avoidance of doubt, references in this paragraph to any agreement, arrangement or obligation include any agreement, arrangement or obligation whether or not legally binding or subject to any condition or which is to take effect if the Offer closes or lapses or if this undertaking ceases to be binding or in any other event;

 

  (e) unless and until the Offer has lapsed or is withdrawn, I will not without the prior written consent of the Offeror acquire or agree to acquire any further shares or any interest in any further shares in the Offeree (except pursuant to the exercise of my Options) (as defined below);

 

  (f) I do not hold and am not entitled to any options under the Merant Share Schemes (as defined in the Press Announcement).

 

2. Subject to paragraph 3 below, the Press Announcement shall be in the form of the draft attached hereto, subject to any amendments or additions (other than to the amount of the consideration and cash consideration) which may be agreed between the Bank (on behalf of the Offeror) and UBS Limited (on behalf of the Offeree).

 

3. The terms and conditions of the Offer will be as set out in the Press Announcement subject to any amendments as may be required to comply with the requirements of the Financial Services Authority, the United Kingdom Listing Authority, the London Stock Exchange plc, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers and the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

2


4. In accordance with the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the “Code”), the Offer Document will contain particulars of this irrevocable undertaking and of my holdings of, and dealings in the last twelve months in, the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree and this irrevocable undertaking will be available for inspection while the Offer remains open for acceptance. Details of my current holdings in the share capital of the Offeree are set out in the First Schedule to this irrevocable undertaking and details of my dealings in the last twelve months in the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree are set out in the Second Schedule to this irrevocable undertaking. Until such time as the Offer is declared or becomes wholly unconditional or lapses or is withdrawn, I will promptly notify the Bank or the Offeror in writing of details of any changes to my holdings of, and any further dealings in, the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree for inclusion in the Offer Document together with such other information as the Offeror or the Bank may reasonably require concerning myself in connection with the Offer (including without limitation the preparation of the formal offer documents) and such other matters as are required in order to comply with applicable law or any other obligations under applicable regulations (including the Code).

 

5. I consent to the issue of the Press Announcement (subject to any amendments made in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3) incorporating references (if any) to me and to this irrevocable undertaking substantially in the terms set out in the Press Announcement and the Offer Document and to its being made available for inspection while the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

6. At all times after the date hereof and until the Offer shall become or be declared unconditional in all respects or shall lapse or be withdrawn I shall (in my capacity as a shareholder of the Offeree and for the avoidance of doubt, subject to my fiduciary duties as a director and any other obligations applicable to directors under applicable law and regulation including the Code) refrain from taking any action or making any statement which (so far as I am aware) would or is likely to be prejudicial to the success of the Offer, including without limitation making any statement which refers to the Offeror before the Press Announcement is released (unless such statement is required by law or regulation including the Code or made at the request of The Offeror in discussions with any shareholder from whom the Offeror is seeking irrevocable undertakings), soliciting any other offer by any third party for any part of the issued share capital or (other than in the ordinary course of business) assets of the Offeree or (except so far as required by my fiduciary duties under law or the Code, and only in response to an unsolicited approach) entering into discussions or negotiations with, or providing any information to, or facilitating in any way any offer by such third party.

 

7. Pending the Offer becoming wholly unconditional or being withdrawn or lapsing and in my capacity as a shareholder and subject to my fiduciary duties as a director and any other obligations applicable to directors under applicable law and regulation including the Code:

 

 

3


  (a) I shall not exercise or permit the exercise of the voting rights attaching to the Shares or Option Shares in any manner which would frustrate the Offer or prevent the Offer becoming or being declared unconditional in all respects;

 

  (b) save as permitted under the terms of the letter agreement entered into between the Offeree and the Offeror on the date hereof, I shall, unless otherwise agreed by the Offeror (in its absolute discretion) exercise or procure the exercise of such voting rights against any resolution which may be proposed for the winding up of the Company and any resolution to increase the authorised share capital or reduce the share capital of the Company or to authorise or empower the directors of the Company to allot or issue securities or to amend the memorandum or articles of association of the Company or to approve any acquisition by the Company of its own shares or any resolution to approve any compromise or arrangement under section 425 of the Companies Act 1985,

 

provided that I am not prevented by any legal or regulatory obligation from voting as aforesaid.

 

8. As a director of the Offeree and subject at all times to my fiduciary duties as a director and the requirements applicable to directors of all applicable laws and regulations (including the Code):

 

  (a) I agree to provide all reasonable assistance as may be requested to enable the Offeror to make the Offer and to prepare the Offer Document and all related and ancillary documents in accordance with the requirements of the Code, the Financial Services Authority, the United Kingdom Listing Authority, the London Stock Exchange plc, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers and the US Securities and Exchange Commission and any other legal or regulatory requirement or body;

 

  (b) I agree to use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that (at all reasonable times following the release of the Press Announcement and before the Offer becomes unconditional in all respects or lapses or is withdrawn) the Offeror and its advisers are provided with such information regarding the Offeree as the Offeror reasonably requires to enable the Offeror to establish whether or not the conditions of the Offer are satisfied;

 

  (c) if the Offer becomes unconditional in all respects, I agree to join in a resolution to approve the appointment as director(s) of the Offeree of anyone nominated by the Offeror and, if required by the Offeror, I shall resign as a director of the Offeree but without prejudice to any entitlement I may have under any service agreement or other arrangement with the Company.

 

9. All references in this irrevocable undertaking to the “Offer” shall include any revised offer or offers which have the same or an increased cash amount and which in the opinion of the Bank and UBS Limited constitute an increase or improvement in the consideration being offered from that offered in the original offer (as previously revised, if at all) made by or on behalf of the Offeror to acquire the whole of the issued share capital of the Offeree and any Ordinary Shares of the Offeree which are issued while the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

 

4


10. I acknowledge that, if I fail to accept or procure the acceptance of the Offer in accordance with my obligations under paragraph 1(b) damages alone would not be an adequate remedy and that an order for specific performance would be an essential element of any adequate remedy for such failure or breach.

 

11. If the Offer Document has not been posted within 28 days after the date of the Press Announcement (or within such longer period, being not more than 42 days after the date of the Press Announcement as the Offeror, with the consent of the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers, determines) or the Offer lapses or is withdrawn without having become or been declared wholly unconditional, all obligations under this irrevocable undertaking will lapse and no party shall have any further obligations under it or any claim against any other save in respect of any antecedent breach of its terms.

 

12. This irrevocable undertaking and the Offeror’s obligation to make the Offer is conditional upon the release of the Press Announcement on or before 5.00pm on 5th March 2004.

 

In the event that such condition fails to be satisfied by the appropriate time and date mentioned above or in the event that the Offer lapses or is withdrawn, this irrevocable undertaking shall automatically lapse and be of no further force or effect and no party hereto shall have any claim against the other save in respect of any antecedent breach of its terms.

 

13. By way of security for the performance of my obligations contained in sub-paragraph 1(b) above, I hereby irrevocably appoint any director for the time being of the Offeror to be my attorney in my name and on my behalf to execute a form or forms of acceptance and/or such other documents and do such other acts and things (if any) as may be necessary to accept the Offer in respect of the Shares (or, as the case may be, to require the registered holder(s) thereof to accept the same), provided that:

 

  (a) such appointment shall not take effect until ten business days shall have elapsed from the date of the Offer Document and only then if I shall have failed to comply with my said obligations;

 

  (b) such attorney shall act in accordance with any instructions which may be given by me in respect of election for the Mix and Match Election (as defined in the Press Announcement).

 

14. I acknowledge that the Bank is acting for the Offeror in relation to the Offer and that the Bank will not regard any other person as its client in relation to the Offer and will not be responsible to any other person for the protections afforded to clients of the Bank.

 

15. This irrevocable undertaking shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England, to the exclusive jurisdiction of whose courts I and you irrevocably submit.

 

5


Yours faithfully,

 

SIGNED and delivered as a deed by

Harold Hughes,

   )
)
)
    

/s/ Harold Hughes


in the presence of:

           
             

/s/ Nancy L. Hughes


           

Signature

           

Nancy L. Hughes


           

Name

           

13535 Country Way


           

Address

           

Los Altos Hills, CA 94022


           

Retired


           

Occupation

           

 

 

6


SCHEDULE 1

 

PART 1

 

Current Shareholding

 

(1)

Number of Ordinary

Shares

 

(2)

Beneficial

Holder

 

(3)

Registered

Holder

134,758

  Harold Hughes   Harold Hughes

 

 

7


SCHEDULE 2

 

Details of Dealings in the Last 12 Months

 


Name

  Date   Transaction   Number  

Price

(£)


Harold Hughes

  11 April 2003   Acquisition   12,091   1.24

 

8

EX-4 6 dex4.htm DIRECTOR IRREVOCABLE UNDERTAKING DATED MARCH 2004 - MICHEL BERTY Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 - Michel Berty

EXHIBIT 4

 

DIRECTOR’S IRREVOCABLE UNDERTAKING

 

(Michel Berty)

 

Serena Software, Inc.

2755 Campus Drive

3rd Floor

San Mateo

California 94403

USA

 

Lehman Brothers Europe Limited

25 Bank Street

London E14 5LE

UK

 

March 2004

 

Dear Sirs,

 

Recommended Offer for Merant Plc (the “Offeree”)

 

I refer to the press announcement (the “Press Announcement”) shortly to be released by Lehman Brothers Europe Limited (the “Bank”) (subject to paragraph 2) in the form attached setting out the principal terms and the conditions upon which the Bank will on behalf of Serena Software, Inc. (the “Offeror”) outside the United States, and the Offeror will on its own behalf in the United States, make the offer (the “Offer”) to acquire the whole of the issued ordinary share capital of the Offeree (including ordinary shares represented by American Depository Shares) and any ordinary shares of the Offeree which are issued whilst the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

In consideration of the Offeror agreeing to make the Offer (subject to paragraph 14 below), I, the undersigned, hereby irrevocably confirm, warrant and undertake that:

 

1.  (a) I am the registered holder and beneficial owner of the number of ordinary shares of £0.02 each in the Offeree (“Ordinary Shares”) set out in Column 1 of Part 1 the First Schedule hereto (such Ordinary Shares and any other securities in the Offeree attributable to or derived from such Ordinary Shares whilst the Offer remains open for acceptance and any other Ordinary Shares to which I may become entitled being herein referred to as the “Shares”), such Ordinary Shares are the only shares in the capital of the Offeree in which I have an interest and (save for this irrevocable undertaking) I have not accepted any offer or entered into any agreement or arrangement, whether conditionally or otherwise, to sell, transfer, grant any option over or otherwise dispose of, or which could result in any such disposal or to create any lien, charge or encumbrance over, all or any of the Shares or any interest therein;

 

1


  (b) I will accept the Offer in respect of the Shares not later than ten business days after the date on which the offer document relating to the Offer (the “Offer Document”) is posted to the shareholders of the Offeree, and I will forward, with such acceptance, the share certificates or other documents of title in respect of the Shares and/or transfer the Shares to an escrow balance, specifying the person identified in the terms and conditions of the Offer Document (in its capacity as CREST participant) as the escrow agent as soon as possible and in any event so that the relevant documents of title are received and/or the transfer to escrow settles no later than ten business days after the Offer Document is posted and unless the Offer lapses or is withdrawn I will not withdraw such acceptance in respect of the Shares, notwithstanding that the terms of the Offer will confer a right of withdrawal on accepting shareholders in certain circumstances;

 

  (c) I shall accept or procure acceptance of the Offer in respect of the Shares (if the Offer is made and does not lapse and is not withdrawn), and will transfer the Shares to the Offeror with full title guarantee free from all liens, charges, encumbrances and other equities or third party rights of any nature whatsoever and with all rights attaching thereto including all rights to any dividends or other distributions hereafter declared, paid or made in respect thereof (other than as provided for by the terms of the Offer);

 

  (d) unless and until the Offer has lapsed or is withdrawn, I will not (save pursuant to the Offer) enter into any agreement, arrangement or obligation which would or could result at any time in the sale, transfer, grant of any option over or other disposal howsoever of, or the creation of any lien, charge or encumbrance over, all or any of the Shares or of any interest therein. For the avoidance of doubt, references in this paragraph to any agreement, arrangement or obligation include any agreement, arrangement or obligation whether or not legally binding or subject to any condition or which is to take effect if the Offer closes or lapses or if this undertaking ceases to be binding or in any other event;

 

  (e) unless and until the Offer has lapsed or is withdrawn, I will not without the prior written consent of the Offeror acquire or agree to acquire any further shares or any interest in any further shares in the Offeree (except pursuant to the exercise of my Options) (as defined below);

 

  (f) I do not hold and am not entitled to any options under the Merant Share Schemes (as defined in the Press Announcement).

 

2. Subject to paragraph 3 below, the Press Announcement shall be in the form of the draft attached hereto, subject to any amendments or additions (other than to the amount of the consideration and cash consideration) which may be agreed between the Bank (on behalf of the Offeror) and UBS Limited (on behalf of the Offeree).

 

3. The terms and conditions of the Offer will be as set out in the Press Announcement subject to any amendments as may be required to comply with the requirements of the Financial Services Authority, the United Kingdom Listing Authority, the London Stock Exchange plc, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers and the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

2


4. In accordance with the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the “Code”), the Offer Document will contain particulars of this irrevocable undertaking and of my holdings of, and dealings in the last twelve months in, the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree and this irrevocable undertaking will be available for inspection while the Offer remains open for acceptance. Details of my current holdings in the share capital of the Offeree are set out in the First Schedule to this irrevocable undertaking and details of my dealings in the last twelve months in the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree are set out in the Second Schedule to this irrevocable undertaking. Until such time as the Offer is declared or becomes wholly unconditional or lapses or is withdrawn, I will promptly notify the Bank or the Offeror in writing of details of any changes to my holdings of, and any further dealings in, the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree for inclusion in the Offer Document together with such other information as the Offeror or the Bank may reasonably require concerning myself in connection with the Offer (including without limitation the preparation of the formal offer documents) and such other matters as are required in order to comply with applicable law or any other obligations under applicable regulations (including the Code).

 

5. I consent to the issue of the Press Announcement (subject to any amendments made in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3) incorporating references (if any) to me and to this irrevocable undertaking substantially in the terms set out in the Press Announcement and the Offer Document and to its being made available for inspection while the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

6. At all times after the date hereof and until the Offer shall become or be declared unconditional in all respects or shall lapse or be withdrawn I shall (in my capacity as a shareholder of the Offeree and for the avoidance of doubt, subject to my fiduciary duties as a director and any other obligations applicable to directors under applicable law and regulation including the Code) refrain from taking any action or making any statement which (so far as I am aware) would or is likely to be prejudicial to the success of the Offer, including without limitation making any statement which refers to the Offeror before the Press Announcement is released (unless such statement is required by law or regulation including the Code or made at the request of The Offeror in discussions with any shareholder from whom the Offeror is seeking irrevocable undertakings), soliciting any other offer by any third party for any part of the issued share capital or (other than in the ordinary course of business) assets of the Offeree or (except so far as required by my fiduciary duties under law or the Code, and only in response to an unsolicited approach) entering into discussions or negotiations with, or providing any information to, or facilitating in any way any offer by such third party.

 

7. Pending the Offer becoming wholly unconditional or being withdrawn or lapsing and in my capacity as a shareholder and subject to my fiduciary duties as a director and any other obligations applicable to directors under applicable law and regulation including the Code:

 

3


  (a) I shall not exercise or permit the exercise of the voting rights attaching to the Shares or Option Shares in any manner which would frustrate the Offer or prevent the Offer becoming or being declared unconditional in all respects;

 

  (b) save as permitted under the terms of the letter agreement entered into between the Offeree and the Offeror on the date hereof, I shall, unless otherwise agreed by the Offeror (in its absolute discretion) exercise or procure the exercise of such voting rights against any resolution which may be proposed for the winding up of the Company and any resolution to increase the authorised share capital or reduce the share capital of the Company or to authorise or empower the directors of the Company to allot or issue securities or to amend the memorandum or articles of association of the Company or to approve any acquisition by the Company of its own shares or any resolution to approve any compromise or arrangement under section 425 of the Companies Act 1985,

 

   provided that I am not prevented by any legal or regulatory obligation from voting as aforesaid.

 

8. As a director of the Offeree and subject at all times to my fiduciary duties as a director and the requirements applicable to directors of all applicable laws and regulations (including the Code):

 

  (a) I agree to provide all reasonable assistance as may be requested to enable the Offeror to make the Offer and to prepare the Offer Document and all related and ancillary documents in accordance with the requirements of the Code, the Financial Services Authority, the United Kingdom Listing Authority, the London Stock Exchange plc, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers and the US Securities and Exchange Commission and any other legal or regulatory requirement or body;

 

  (b) I agree to use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that (at all reasonable times following the release of the Press Announcement and before the Offer becomes unconditional in all respects or lapses or is withdrawn) the Offeror and its advisers are provided with such information regarding the Offeree as the Offeror reasonably requires to enable the Offeror to establish whether or not the conditions of the Offer are satisfied;

 

  (c) if the Offer becomes unconditional in all respects, I agree to join in a resolution to approve the appointment as director(s) of the Offeree of anyone nominated by the Offeror and, if required by the Offeror, I shall resign as a director of the Offeree but without prejudice to any entitlement I may have under any service agreement or other arrangement with the Company.

 

9. All references in this irrevocable undertaking to the “Offer” shall include any revised offer or offers which have the same or an increased cash amount and which in the opinion of the Bank and UBS Limited constitute an increase or improvement in the consideration being offered from that offered in the original offer (as previously revised, if at all) made by or on behalf of the Offeror to acquire the whole of the issued share capital of the Offeree and any Ordinary Shares of the Offeree which are issued while the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

4


10. I acknowledge that, if I fail to accept or procure the acceptance of the Offer in accordance with my obligations under paragraph 1(b) damages alone would not be an adequate remedy and that an order for specific performance would be an essential element of any adequate remedy for such failure or breach.

 

11. If the Offer Document has not been posted within 28 days after the date of the Press Announcement (or within such longer period, being not more than 42 days after the date of the Press Announcement as the Offeror, with the consent of the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers, determines) or the Offer lapses or is withdrawn without having become or been declared wholly unconditional, all obligations under this irrevocable undertaking will lapse and no party shall have any further obligations under it or any claim against any other save in respect of any antecedent breach of its terms.

 

12. This irrevocable undertaking and the Offeror’s obligation to make the Offer is conditional upon the release of the Press Announcement on or before 5.00pm on 5th March 2004.

 

   In the event that such condition fails to be satisfied by the appropriate time and date mentioned above or in the event that the Offer lapses or is withdrawn, this irrevocable undertaking shall automatically lapse and be of no further force or effect and no party hereto shall have any claim against the other save in respect of any antecedent breach of its terms.

 

13. By way of security for the performance of my obligations contained in sub-paragraph 1(b) above, I hereby irrevocably appoint any director for the time being of the Offeror to be my attorney in my name and on my behalf to execute a form or forms of acceptance and/or such other documents and do such other acts and things (if any) as may be necessary to accept the Offer in respect of the Shares (or, as the case may be, to require the registered holder(s) thereof to accept the same), provided that:

 

  (a) such appointment shall not take effect until ten business days shall have elapsed from the date of the Offer Document and only then if I shall have failed to comply with my said obligations;

 

  (b) such attorney shall act in accordance with any instructions which may be given by me in respect of election for the Mix and Match Election (as defined in the Press Announcement).

 

14. I acknowledge that the Bank is acting for the Offeror in relation to the Offer and that the Bank will not regard any other person as its client in relation to the Offer and will not be responsible to any other person for the protections afforded to clients of the Bank.

 

15. This irrevocable undertaking shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England, to the exclusive jurisdiction of whose courts I and you irrevocably submit.

 

5


Yours faithfully,

 

SIGNED and delivered as a deed by        

Michel Berty,

 

)

)

)

 

/s/ Michel Berty                                                             


 

in the presence of:

/s/ Shai Waitel


Signature

Shai Waitel


Name

6 Hazart St.


Address

ISRAEL 49214

WonderNet CEO


Occupation

 

6


SCHEDULE 1

 

PART 1

 

Current Shareholding

 

(1)

Number of Ordinary

Shares

 

(2)

Beneficial

Holder

 

(3)

Registered

Holder

24,758   Michel Berty   Michel Berty

 

 

7


SCHEDULE 2

 

Details of Dealings in the Last 12 Months

 

Name


 

Date


 

Transaction


 

Number


 

Price

(£)


Michel Berty   8 April 2003   Acquisition   12,091   1.24

 

8

EX-5 7 dex5.htm DIRECTOR IRREVOCABLE UNDERTAKING DATED MARCH 2004 - BARRY X. LYNN Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 - Barry X. Lynn

EXHIBIT 5

 

DIRECTOR’S IRREVOCABLE UNDERTAKING

 

(Barry Lynn)

 

Serena Software, Inc.

2755 Campus Drive

3rd Floor

San Mateo

California 94403

USA

 

Lehman Brothers Europe Limited

25 Bank Street

London E14 5LE

UK

 

March 2004

 

Dear Sirs,

 

Recommended Offer for Merant Plc (the “Offeree”)

 

I refer to the press announcement (the “Press Announcement”) shortly to be released by Lehman Brothers Europe Limited (the “Bank”) (subject to paragraph 2) in the form attached setting out the principal terms and the conditions upon which the Bank will on behalf of Serena Software, Inc. (the “Offeror”) outside the United States, and the Offeror will on its own behalf in the United States, make the offer (the “Offer”) to acquire the whole of the issued ordinary share capital of the Offeree (including ordinary shares represented by American Depository Shares) and any ordinary shares of the Offeree which are issued whilst the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

In consideration of the Offeror agreeing to make the Offer (subject to paragraph 14 below), I, the undersigned, hereby irrevocably confirm, warrant and undertake that:

 

1.  (a) I am the registered holder and beneficial owner of the number of ordinary shares of £0.02 each in the Offeree (“Ordinary Shares”) set out in Column 1 of Part 1 the First Schedule hereto (such Ordinary Shares and any other securities in the Offeree attributable to or derived from such Ordinary Shares whilst the Offer remains open for acceptance and any other Ordinary Shares to which I may become entitled being herein referred to as the “Shares”), such Ordinary Shares are the only shares in the capital of the Offeree in which I have an interest and (save for this irrevocable undertaking) I have not accepted any offer or entered into any agreement or arrangement, whether conditionally or otherwise, to sell, transfer, grant any option over or otherwise dispose of, or which could result in any such disposal or to create any lien, charge or encumbrance over, all or any of the Shares or any interest therein;


  (b) I will accept the Offer in respect of the Shares not later than ten business days after the date on which the offer document relating to the Offer (the “Offer Document”) is posted to the shareholders of the Offeree, and I will forward, with such acceptance, the share certificates or other documents of title in respect of the Shares and/or transfer the Shares to an escrow balance, specifying the person identified in the terms and conditions of the Offer Document (in its capacity as CREST participant) as the escrow agent as soon as possible and in any event so that the relevant documents of title are received and/or the transfer to escrow settles no later than ten business days after the Offer Document is posted and unless the Offer lapses or is withdrawn I will not withdraw such acceptance in respect of the Shares, notwithstanding that the terms of the Offer will confer a right of withdrawal on accepting shareholders in certain circumstances;

 

  (c) I shall accept or procure acceptance of the Offer in respect of the Shares (if the Offer is made and does not lapse and is not withdrawn), and will transfer the Shares to the Offeror with full title guarantee free from all liens, charges, encumbrances and other equities or third party rights of any nature whatsoever and with all rights attaching thereto including all rights to any dividends or other distributions hereafter declared, paid or made in respect thereof (other than as provided for by the terms of the Offer);

 

  (d) unless and until the Offer has lapsed or is withdrawn, I will not (save pursuant to the Offer) enter into any agreement, arrangement or obligation which would or could result at any time in the sale, transfer, grant of any option over or other disposal howsoever of, or the creation of any lien, charge or encumbrance over, all or any of the Shares or of any interest therein. For the avoidance of doubt, references in this paragraph to any agreement, arrangement or obligation include any agreement, arrangement or obligation whether or not legally binding or subject to any condition or which is to take effect if the Offer closes or lapses or if this undertaking ceases to be binding or in any other event;

 

  (e) unless and until the Offer has lapsed or is withdrawn, I will not without the prior written consent of the Offeror acquire or agree to acquire any further shares or any interest in any further shares in the Offeree (except pursuant to the exercise of my Options) (as defined below);

 

  (f) I do not hold and am not entitled to any options under the Merant Share Schemes (as defined in the Press Announcement).

 

2. Subject to paragraph 3 below, the Press Announcement shall be in the form of the draft attached hereto, subject to any amendments or additions (other than to the amount of the consideration and cash consideration) which may be agreed between the Bank (on behalf of the Offeror) and UBS Limited (on behalf of the Offeree).

 

3. The terms and conditions of the Offer will be as set out in the Press Announcement subject to any amendments as may be required to comply with the requirements of the Financial Services Authority, the United Kingdom Listing Authority, the London Stock Exchange plc, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers and the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

2


4. In accordance with the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the “Code”), the Offer Document will contain particulars of this irrevocable undertaking and of my holdings of, and dealings in the last twelve months in, the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree and this irrevocable undertaking will be available for inspection while the Offer remains open for acceptance. Details of my current holdings in the share capital of the Offeree are set out in the First Schedule to this irrevocable undertaking and details of my dealings in the last twelve months in the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree are set out in the Second Schedule to this irrevocable undertaking. Until such time as the Offer is declared or becomes wholly unconditional or lapses or is withdrawn, I will promptly notify the Bank or the Offeror in writing of details of any changes to my holdings of, and any further dealings in, the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree for inclusion in the Offer Document together with such other information as the Offeror or the Bank may reasonably require concerning myself in connection with the Offer (including without limitation the preparation of the formal offer documents) and such other matters as are required in order to comply with applicable law or any other obligations under applicable regulations (including the Code).

 

5. I consent to the issue of the Press Announcement (subject to any amendments made in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3) incorporating references (if any) to me and to this irrevocable undertaking substantially in the terms set out in the Press Announcement and the Offer Document and to its being made available for inspection while the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

6. At all times after the date hereof and until the Offer shall become or be declared unconditional in all respects or shall lapse or be withdrawn I shall (in my capacity as a shareholder of the Offeree and for the avoidance of doubt, subject to my fiduciary duties as a director and any other obligations applicable to directors under applicable law and regulation including the Code) refrain from taking any action or making any statement which (so far as I am aware) would or is likely to be prejudicial to the success of the Offer, including without limitation making any statement which refers to the Offeror before the Press Announcement is released (unless such statement is required by law or regulation including the Code or made at the request of The Offeror in discussions with any shareholder from whom the Offeror is seeking irrevocable undertakings), soliciting any other offer by any third party for any part of the issued share capital or (other than in the ordinary course of business) assets of the Offeree or (except so far as required by my fiduciary duties under law or the Code, and only in response to an unsolicited approach) entering into discussions or negotiations with, or providing any information to, or facilitating in any way any offer by such third party.

 

7. Pending the Offer becoming wholly unconditional or being withdrawn or lapsing and in my capacity as a shareholder and subject to my fiduciary duties as a director and any other obligations applicable to directors under applicable law and regulation including the Code:

 

3


  (a) I shall not exercise or permit the exercise of the voting rights attaching to the Shares or Option Shares in any manner which would frustrate the Offer or prevent the Offer becoming or being declared unconditional in all respects;

 

  (b) save as permitted under the terms of the letter agreement entered into between the Offeree and the Offeror on the date hereof, I shall, unless otherwise agreed by the Offeror (in its absolute discretion) exercise or procure the exercise of such voting rights against any resolution which may be proposed for the winding up of the Company and any resolution to increase the authorised share capital or reduce the share capital of the Company or to authorise or empower the directors of the Company to allot or issue securities or to amend the memorandum or articles of association of the Company or to approve any acquisition by the Company of its own shares or any resolution to approve any compromise or arrangement under section 425 of the Companies Act 1985,

 

provided that I am not prevented by any legal or regulatory obligation from voting as aforesaid.

 

8. As a director of the Offeree and subject at all times to my fiduciary duties as a director and the requirements applicable to directors of all applicable laws and regulations (including the Code):

 

  (a) I agree to provide all reasonable assistance as may be requested to enable the Offeror to make the Offer and to prepare the Offer Document and all related and ancillary documents in accordance with the requirements of the Code, the Financial Services Authority, the United Kingdom Listing Authority, the London Stock Exchange plc, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers and the US Securities and Exchange Commission and any other legal or regulatory requirement or body;

 

  (b) I agree to use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that (at all reasonable times following the release of the Press Announcement and before the Offer becomes unconditional in all respects or lapses or is withdrawn) the Offeror and its advisers are provided with such information regarding the Offeree as the Offeror reasonably requires to enable the Offeror to establish whether or not the conditions of the Offer are satisfied;

 

  (c) if the Offer becomes unconditional in all respects, I agree to join in a resolution to approve the appointment as director(s) of the Offeree of anyone nominated by the Offeror and, if required by the Offeror, I shall resign as a director of the Offeree but without prejudice to any entitlement I may have under any service agreement or other arrangement with the Company.

 

9. All references in this irrevocable undertaking to the “Offer” shall include any revised offer or offers which have the same or an increased cash amount and which in the opinion of the Bank and UBS Limited constitute an increase or improvement in the consideration being offered from that offered in the original offer (as previously revised, if at all) made by or on behalf of the Offeror to acquire the whole of the issued share capital of the Offeree and any Ordinary Shares of the Offeree which are issued while the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

4


10. I acknowledge that, if I fail to accept or procure the acceptance of the Offer in accordance with my obligations under paragraph 1(b) damages alone would not be an adequate remedy and that an order for specific performance would be an essential element of any adequate remedy for such failure or breach.

 

11. If the Offer Document has not been posted within 28 days after the date of the Press Announcement (or within such longer period, being not more than 42 days after the date of the Press Announcement as the Offeror, with the consent of the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers, determines) or the Offer lapses or is withdrawn without having become or been declared wholly unconditional, all obligations under this irrevocable undertaking will lapse and no party shall have any further obligations under it or any claim against any other save in respect of any antecedent breach of its terms.

 

12. This irrevocable undertaking and the Offeror’s obligation to make the Offer is conditional upon the release of the Press Announcement on or before 5.00pm on 5th March 2004.

 

   In the event that such condition fails to be satisfied by the appropriate time and date mentioned above or in the event that the Offer lapses or is withdrawn, this irrevocable undertaking shall automatically lapse and be of no further force or effect and no party hereto shall have any claim against the other save in respect of any antecedent breach of its terms.

 

13. By way of security for the performance of my obligations contained in sub-paragraph 1(b) above, I hereby irrevocably appoint any director for the time being of the Offeror to be my attorney in my name and on my behalf to execute a form or forms of acceptance and/or such other documents and do such other acts and things (if any) as may be necessary to accept the Offer in respect of the Shares (or, as the case may be, to require the registered holder(s) thereof to accept the same), provided that:

 

  (a) such appointment shall not take effect until ten business days shall have elapsed from the date of the Offer Document and only then if I shall have failed to comply with my said obligations;

 

  (b) such attorney shall act in accordance with any instructions which may be given by me in respect of election for the Mix and Match Election (as defined in the Press Announcement).

 

14. I acknowledge that the Bank is acting for the Offeror in relation to the Offer and that the Bank will not regard any other person as its client in relation to the Offer and will not be responsible to any other person for the protections afforded to clients of the Bank.

 

15. This irrevocable undertaking shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England, to the exclusive jurisdiction of whose courts I and you irrevocably submit.

 

5


Yours faithfully,

 

SIGNED and delivered as a deed by        

Michel Berty,

 

)

)

)

 

/s/ Barry Lynn                                                             


 

in the presence of:

/s/ Barbara Lynn


Signature

Barbara Lynn


Name

480 Green Glen Way


Address

Mill Valley, CA 94941

Teacher


Occupation

 

 

6


SCHEDULE 1

 

PART 1

 

Current Shareholding

 

(1)

Number of Ordinary

Shares

 

(2)

Beneficial

Holder

 

(3)

Registered

Holder

24,758   Barry Lynn   Barry Lynn

 

 

7


SCHEDULE 2

 

Details of Dealings in the Last 12 Months

 

Name


 

Date


 

Transaction


 

Number


 

Price

(£)


Barry Lynn   10 April 2003   Acquisition   12,091   1.24

 

8

EX-6 8 dex6.htm DIRECTOR IRREVOCABLE UNDERTAKING DATED MARCH 2004 - DON C. WATTERS Director Irrevocable Undertaking dated March 2004 - Don C. Watters

EXHIBIT 6

 

DIRECTOR’S IRREVOCABLE UNDERTAKING

 

(Don C Watters)

 

Serena Software, Inc.

2755 Campus Drive

3rd Floor

San Mateo

California 94403

USA

 

Lehman Brothers Europe Limited

25 Bank Street

London E14 5LE

UK

 

March 2004

 

Dear Sirs,

 

Recommended Offer for Merant Plc (the “Offeree”)

 

I refer to the press announcement (the “Press Announcement”) shortly to be released by Lehman Brothers Europe Limited (the “Bank”) (subject to paragraph 2) in the form attached setting out the principal terms and the conditions upon which the Bank will on behalf of Serena Software, Inc. (the “Offeror”) outside the United States, and the Offeror will on its own behalf in the United States, make the offer (the “Offer”) to acquire the whole of the issued ordinary share capital of the Offeree (including ordinary shares represented by American Depository Shares) and any ordinary shares of the Offeree which are issued whilst the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

In consideration of the Offeror agreeing to make the Offer (subject to paragraph 14 below), I, the undersigned, hereby irrevocably confirm, warrant and undertake that:

 

1.    (a) I am the registered holder and beneficial owner of the number of ordinary shares of £0.02 each in the Offeree (“Ordinary Shares”) set out in Column 1 of Part 1 the First Schedule hereto (such Ordinary Shares and any other securities in the Offeree attributable to or derived from such Ordinary Shares whilst the Offer remains open for acceptance and any other Ordinary Shares to which I may become entitled being herein referred to as the “Shares”), such Ordinary Shares are the only shares in the capital of the Offeree in which I have an interest and (save for this irrevocable undertaking) I have not accepted any offer or entered into any agreement or arrangement, whether conditionally or otherwise, to sell, transfer, grant any option over or otherwise dispose of, or which could result in any such disposal or to create any lien, charge or encumbrance over, all or any of the Shares or any interest therein;


      (b) I will accept the Offer in respect of the Shares not later than ten business days after the date on which the offer document relating to the Offer (the “Offer Document”) is posted to the shareholders of the Offeree, and I will forward, with such acceptance, the share certificates or other documents of title in respect of the Shares and/or transfer the Shares to an escrow balance, specifying the person identified in the terms and conditions of the Offer Document (in its capacity as CREST participant) as the escrow agent as soon as possible and in any event so that the relevant documents of title are received and/or the transfer to escrow settles no later than ten business days after the Offer Document is posted and unless the Offer lapses or is withdrawn I will not withdraw such acceptance in respect of the Shares, notwithstanding that the terms of the Offer will confer a right of withdrawal on accepting shareholders in certain circumstances;

 

      (c) I shall accept or procure acceptance of the Offer in respect of the Shares (if the Offer is made and does not lapse and is not withdrawn), and will transfer the Shares to the Offeror with full title guarantee free from all liens, charges, encumbrances and other equities or third party rights of any nature whatsoever and with all rights attaching thereto including all rights to any dividends or other distributions hereafter declared, paid or made in respect thereof (other than as provided for by the terms of the Offer);

 

      (d) unless and until the Offer has lapsed or is withdrawn, I will not (save pursuant to the Offer) enter into any agreement, arrangement or obligation which would or could result at any time in the sale, transfer, grant of any option over or other disposal howsoever of, or the creation of any lien, charge or encumbrance over, all or any of the Shares or of any interest therein. For the avoidance of doubt, references in this paragraph to any agreement, arrangement or obligation include any agreement, arrangement or obligation whether or not legally binding or subject to any condition or which is to take effect if the Offer closes or lapses or if this undertaking ceases to be binding or in any other event;

 

      (e) unless and until the Offer has lapsed or is withdrawn, I will not without the prior written consent of the Offeror acquire or agree to acquire any further shares or any interest in any further shares in the Offeree (except pursuant to the exercise of my Options) (as defined below);

 

      (f) I do not hold and am not entitled to any options under the Merant Share Schemes (as defined in the Press Announcement).

 

2. Subject to paragraph 3 below, the Press Announcement shall be in the form of the draft attached hereto, subject to any amendments or additions (other than to the amount of the consideration and cash consideration) which may be agreed between the Bank (on behalf of the Offeror) and UBS Limited (on behalf of the Offeree).

 

3. The terms and conditions of the Offer will be as set out in the Press Announcement subject to any amendments as may be required to comply with the requirements of the Financial Services Authority, the United Kingdom Listing Authority, the London Stock Exchange plc, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers and the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

2


4. In accordance with the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the “Code”), the Offer Document will contain particulars of this irrevocable undertaking and of my holdings of, and dealings in the last twelve months in, the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree and this irrevocable undertaking will be available for inspection while the Offer remains open for acceptance. Details of my current holdings in the share capital of the Offeree are set out in the First Schedule to this irrevocable undertaking and details of my dealings in the last twelve months in the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree are set out in the Second Schedule to this irrevocable undertaking. Until such time as the Offer is declared or becomes wholly unconditional or lapses or is withdrawn, I will promptly notify the Bank or the Offeror in writing of details of any changes to my holdings of, and any further dealings in, the share capital of the Offeror and the Offeree for inclusion in the Offer Document together with such other information as the Offeror or the Bank may reasonably require concerning myself in connection with the Offer (including without limitation the preparation of the formal offer documents) and such other matters as are required in order to comply with applicable law or any other obligations under applicable regulations (including the Code).

 

5. I consent to the issue of the Press Announcement (subject to any amendments made in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3) incorporating references (if any) to me and to this irrevocable undertaking substantially in the terms set out in the Press Announcement and the Offer Document and to its being made available for inspection while the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

6. At all times after the date hereof and until the Offer shall become or be declared unconditional in all respects or shall lapse or be withdrawn I shall (in my capacity as a shareholder of the Offeree and for the avoidance of doubt, subject to my fiduciary duties as a director and any other obligations applicable to directors under applicable law and regulation including the Code) refrain from taking any action or making any statement which (so far as I am aware) would or is likely to be prejudicial to the success of the Offer, including without limitation making any statement which refers to the Offeror before the Press Announcement is released (unless such statement is required by law or regulation including the Code or made at the request of The Offeror in discussions with any shareholder from whom the Offeror is seeking irrevocable undertakings), soliciting any other offer by any third party for any part of the issued share capital or (other than in the ordinary course of business) assets of the Offeree or (except so far as required by my fiduciary duties under law or the Code, and only in response to an unsolicited approach) entering into discussions or negotiations with, or providing any information to, or facilitating in any way any offer by such third party.

 

7. Pending the Offer becoming wholly unconditional or being withdrawn or lapsing and in my capacity as a shareholder and subject to my fiduciary duties as a director and any other obligations applicable to directors under applicable law and regulation including the Code:

 

3


  (a) I shall not exercise or permit the exercise of the voting rights attaching to the Shares or Option Shares in any manner which would frustrate the Offer or prevent the Offer becoming or being declared unconditional in all respects;

 

  (b) save as permitted under the terms of the letter agreement entered into between the Offeree and the Offeror on the date hereof, I shall, unless otherwise agreed by the Offeror (in its absolute discretion) exercise or procure the exercise of such voting rights against any resolution which may be proposed for the winding up of the Company and any resolution to increase the authorised share capital or reduce the share capital of the Company or to authorise or empower the directors of the Company to allot or issue securities or to amend the memorandum or articles of association of the Company or to approve any acquisition by the Company of its own shares or any resolution to approve any compromise or arrangement under section 425 of the Companies Act 1985,

 

provided that I am not prevented by any legal or regulatory obligation from voting as aforesaid.

 

8. As a director of the Offeree and subject at all times to my fiduciary duties as a director and the requirements applicable to directors of all applicable laws and regulations (including the Code):

 

  (a) I agree to provide all reasonable assistance as may be requested to enable the Offeror to make the Offer and to prepare the Offer Document and all related and ancillary documents in accordance with the requirements of the Code, the Financial Services Authority, the United Kingdom Listing Authority, the London Stock Exchange plc, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers and the US Securities and Exchange Commission and any other legal or regulatory requirement or body;

 

  (b) I agree to use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that (at all reasonable times following the release of the Press Announcement and before the Offer becomes unconditional in all respects or lapses or is withdrawn) the Offeror and its advisers are provided with such information regarding the Offeree as the Offeror reasonably requires to enable the Offeror to establish whether or not the conditions of the Offer are satisfied;

 

  (c) if the Offer becomes unconditional in all respects, I agree to join in a resolution to approve the appointment as director(s) of the Offeree of anyone nominated by the Offeror and, if required by the Offeror, I shall resign as a director of the Offeree but without prejudice to any entitlement I may have under any service agreement or other arrangement with the Company.

 

9. All references in this irrevocable undertaking to the “Offer” shall include any revised offer or offers which have the same or an increased cash amount and which in the opinion of the Bank and UBS Limited constitute an increase or improvement in the consideration being offered from that offered in the original offer (as previously revised, if at all) made by or on behalf of the Offeror to acquire the whole of the issued share capital of the Offeree and any Ordinary Shares of the Offeree which are issued while the Offer remains open for acceptance.

 

4


10. I acknowledge that, if I fail to accept or procure the acceptance of the Offer in accordance with my obligations under paragraph 1(b) damages alone would not be an adequate remedy and that an order for specific performance would be an essential element of any adequate remedy for such failure or breach.

 

11. If the Offer Document has not been posted within 28 days after the date of the Press Announcement (or within such longer period, being not more than 42 days after the date of the Press Announcement as the Offeror, with the consent of the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers, determines) or the Offer lapses or is withdrawn without having become or been declared wholly unconditional, all obligations under this irrevocable undertaking will lapse and no party shall have any further obligations under it or any claim against any other save in respect of any antecedent breach of its terms.

 

12. This irrevocable undertaking and the Offeror’s obligation to make the Offer is conditional upon the release of the Press Announcement on or before 5.00pm on 5th March 2004.

 

     In the event that such condition fails to be satisfied by the appropriate time and date mentioned above or in the event that the Offer lapses or is withdrawn, this irrevocable undertaking shall automatically lapse and be of no further force or effect and no party hereto shall have any claim against the other save in respect of any antecedent breach of its terms.

 

13. By way of security for the performance of my obligations contained in sub-paragraph 1(b) above, I hereby irrevocably appoint any director for the time being of the Offeror to be my attorney in my name and on my behalf to execute a form or forms of acceptance and/or such other documents and do such other acts and things (if any) as may be necessary to accept the Offer in respect of the Shares (or, as the case may be, to require the registered holder(s) thereof to accept the same), provided that:

 

  (a) such appointment shall not take effect until ten business days shall have elapsed from the date of the Offer Document and only then if I shall have failed to comply with my said obligations;

 

  (b) such attorney shall act in accordance with any instructions which may be given by me in respect of election for the Mix and Match Election (as defined in the Press Announcement).

 

14. I acknowledge that the Bank is acting for the Offeror in relation to the Offer and that the Bank will not regard any other person as its client in relation to the Offer and will not be responsible to any other person for the protections afforded to clients of the Bank.

 

15. This irrevocable undertaking shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England, to the exclusive jurisdiction of whose courts I and you irrevocably submit.

 

5


Yours faithfully,

 

SIGNED and delivered as a deed by

Don C Watters,

   )
)
)
       

/s/    Don C. Watters


 

in the presence of:

 

/s/    Donald Novak


Signature

Donald Novak


Name

P.O. Box 4507


Address

Durango, CO 81302


Consultant


Occupation

 

 

6


SCHEDULE 1

 

PART 1

 

Current Shareholding

 

(1)

Number of Ordinary

Shares

 

(2)

Beneficial

Holder

 

(3)

Registered

Holder

24,758   Don Watters   Don Watters

 

 

7


SCHEDULE 2

 

Details of Dealings in the Last 12 Months

 

Name   Date   Transaction   Number  

Price

(£)

Don Watters   8 April 2003   Acquisition   12,091   1.24

 

8

EX-7 9 dex7.htm INDUCEMENT AGREEMENT Inducement Agreement

EXHIBIT 7

 

Serena Software, Inc.

2755 Campus Drive, 3rd Floor

San Mateo, CA 94403

 

Merant plc

3445 NW 211th Terrace

Hillsboro, OR 97124

 

March 3, 2004

 

Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

PROPOSED OFFER FOR THE COMPANY

 

We refer to the recommended offer (the “Offer”) for the whole of the issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Merent plc (the “Company” or “Merant”) which Serena Software, Inc. (“Serena”) proposes to make on the terms set forth in the draft press announcement (the “Press Announcement”) attached hereto as Exhibit A.

 

As a condition to Serena’s announcement of the Offer, the Company has agreed, as an inducement, to enter into this letter agreement (this “Inducement Agreement”) the terms of which are themselves conditional on the Press Announcement being made.

 

1. The Company shall pay Serena a fee of £2,057,572 (the “Inducement Fee”), subject to the following terms and conditions. The Inducement Fee shall be due and payable if either:

 

  a. prior to the Offer being declared wholly unconditional in all respects (or the completion of the Scheme, if a Scheme is commenced pursuant to paragraph 8 of this Inducement Agreement), the Offer (or Scheme, as the case may be) lapses or is withdrawn, and before such lapse or withdrawal, a third party has announced the implementation of, or an intention to implement, any offer, scheme, merger, consolidation or other business combination which may result in the ownership of all or substantially all of the share capital or assets of the Company or a material subsidiary of the Company passing to any person other than Serena (or any person affiliated with Serena) and which has an aggregate transaction value higher than the aggregate value of the Offer as set forth in the Press Announcement (an “Independent Competing Offer”) and the Company fails to reconfirm in writing to Serena the unanimous recommendation of its board of directors of the Offer within 10 calendar days after the public announcement of such Independent Competing Offer; or

 

  b. the board of the Company withdraws or modifies in any manner its recommendation of the Offer (or the Scheme, as the case may be) to the shareholders of the Company as set out in the Press Announcement (in each case, irrespective of whether they could continue to recommend the Offer or Scheme in good faith or in accordance with their duties);


provided, that the Inducement Fee will not be payable pursuant to clause (a) or (b) if:

 

  i. the Offer is withdrawn without the consent of the U.K. Panel on Takeovers and Mergers (the “Panel”);

 

  ii. Serena is in material breach of any provisions of this Inducement Agreement and has not cured (where capable of cure) such breach within 10 days after notice thereof by the Company; or

 

  iii. the Offer (or the Scheme, as the case may be) lapses or is withdrawn as a result of a failure to obtain the approvals specified in conditions Section 1(d) of Appendix I of the Press Announcement.

 

2. The Inducement Fee shall be paid by the Company without deduction, set-off or counterclaim within five business days following the date on which it becomes due for payment in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Inducement Agreement.

 

3. Until the Offer has lapsed or been withdrawn (and, if later, until any Scheme commenced pursuant to paragraph 8 of this Inducement Agreement has lapsed or been withdrawn), the Company hereby agrees that it will not, and will procure that none of its subsidiary undertakings (or any of their respective directors, employees, advisers, affiliates, attorneys or other agents or representatives) will, directly or indirectly, solicit, initiate, seek, encourage, facilitate or support any inquiry, proposal or offer from, furnish any information to, or participate in any discussions or negotiations with, any third party regarding any acquisition of the Company or any of its subsidiaries or any offer, scheme, merger, consolidation or other business combination with or involving the Company or any of its subsidiaries, or any sale or acquisition of any of the share capital or any material portion of the assets of the Company or any of its subsidiaries (a “Third Party Acquisition Proposal”). Notwithstanding the foregoing, and without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 1(b), the Company may respond to an unsolicited alternative proposal by conducting discussions, supplying information and taking such other actions (including in the case of the board of directors, recommending any Third Party Acquisition Proposal to the Company’s shareholders) so far as the Company’s board of directors has in good faith concluded (following receipt of advice of its outside legal counsel and its financial advisor) they are required to do so to comply with the directors’ fiduciary duties or their obligations under the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the “City Code”) or other applicable laws. The Company shall promptly, and in any event within 24 hours after receipt, notify Serena of any proposal for, or inquiry respecting, any Third Party Acquisition Proposal, any material developments with respect thereto, or any request for information in connection with such a proposal or inquiry, on an ongoing basis. Such notice shall indicate the material terms and conditions of such proposal, inquiry or developments (including, without limitation, the nature of the third party, the amount and nature of the proposed consideration, the consents and approvals needed for the third party to complete the transaction, any differences from the terms of Serena’s offer and the Company’s views on the viability of the Third Party Acquisition Proposal).

 

2


4. The Company agrees to cooperate with Serena and to take such action and give such assistance as Serena may reasonably request to assist Serena: (i) to obtain any necessary regulatory clearances and approvals in connection with the Offer, including, without limitation, all clearances and approvals advisable or required under applicable antitrust or securities laws or regulations; and (ii) to prepare the documentation relating to the Offer in accordance with the City Code and U.S. securities laws and regulations, including without limitation, a registration statement on Form S-4 (the “Offer Documents”). Serena agrees to use reasonable endeavors to satisfy the conditions provided for under paragraphs 1(b) and 1(d)(i) and (ii) of Appendix I of the Press Announcement and in connection therewith (i) to file a registration statement on Form S-4 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, a notification and report form as required by the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 and a Notification Form for the Listing of Additional Securities on the Nasdaq National Market as soon as reasonably practicable after the release of the Press Announcement and (ii) to procure the posting of the document formally making the Offer (the “Offer Document”) to Merant shareholders within 28 days after the release of the Press Announcement, or such longer period as the Panel may agree.

 

5. Each of Serena and Merant confirms to the other that, following the release of the Press Announcement, it will observe and comply with the provisions of the City Code, applicable U.S securities laws and the requirements of the Panel in relation to the making and the conduct of the Offer.

 

6. The Company agrees that, unless the Offer has lapsed or been withdrawn (and, if later, until any Scheme commenced pursuant to paragraph 8 of this Inducement Agreement has lapsed or been withdrawn), it will not, and it will procure that none of its subsidiaries will:

 

  a. issue any ordinary shares or other securities of Merant or any (save for issues to Merent or any of its wholly-owned subsidiaries) of its subsidiaries, except as required pursuant to options or awards outstanding as of the date hereof (or issued pursuant to paragraph 6(b) below) under the following plans of the Company or its subsidiaries: (i) the 2003 Share Incentive Plan and 2003 Employee Benefit Trust, the 1999 Employee Share Purchase Plan and the 1994 Employee Benefit Trust (collectively, the “Trust Plans”, and the options outstanding thereunder, the “EBT Options”) and (ii) the 1998 Share Option Plan, the 1997 Intersolv Employee Stock Option Plan, the 1992 Intersolv Employee Stock Option Plan and the 1996 Share Option Plan (collectively, the “Option Schemes”);

 

  b. other than to new joiners and with the consent of Serena make any further awards or grant any further options or entitlements to Company securities, or amend the terms of any options or awards outstanding, under the Option Schemes or the Trust Plans or any other plan or scheme or otherwise grant any right to any person to purchase or otherwise acquire any securities of the Company or any of its subsidiaries (or any interest therein); or

 

  c. other than in accordance with the City Code and U.S. securities laws and with the consent of Serena, grant any additional remuneration or benefits (or any entitlements thereto) to any of its officers, directors or other senior executives of the Company or any of its subsidiaries.

 

3


7. The Company agrees to cooperate with Serena and to take such action and give such assistance as Serena may reasonably request to confirm the entitlements of Company employees under each of the Option Schemes and the Trust Plans in the amounts and with the rights already disclosed to Serena. The Company also agrees to assist Serena to make the arrangements for the holders of options or other awards granted pursuant to the Option Schemes as set forth in Exhibit B hereto and to request the trustees of the 2003 Employee Benefit Trust and the 1994 Employee Benefit Trust to grant irrevocable undertakings with respect to the Offer and to effect the arrangements with respect to the EBT Options as set forth in Exhibit B hereto. Serena and Merant each undertake to give effect to the arrangements outlined in Exhibit B concerning the Option Schemes and the Employee Share Purchase Plan.

 

8. If, prior to posting of the Offer Document to shareholders of Merant, Serena requests to restructure the Offer as a scheme of arrangement under section 425 of the Companies Act (a “Scheme”), with consideration per share that is equal to or higher than the Offer per Merent share set forth in the Press Announcement, with the cash consideration consisting of an amount no less than that described in the Press Announcement and the Company consents to such request (such consent not to be unreasonably withheld), the Company agrees to cooperate with Serena and to take such action and give such assistance as Serena may reasonably request to assist Serena to implement a Scheme. In the event that Serena elects to implement a Scheme, the conditions set forth in Section 1 (a) and (b) of Appendix I of the Press Announcement shall be replaced with the conditions set forth in Exhibit C to this Implementation Agreement, but the conditions to Serena’s completion of the Scheme shall otherwise remain the same as the conditions to the Offer set forth in the Press Announcement.

 

9. For the avoidance of doubt, the obligations of Merant hereunder shall terminate upon the payment in full of the Inducement Fee and the obligations of Serena shall terminate upon the lapsing or withdrawal of the Offer in accordance with its terms or the Code.

 

10. This letter shall be governed by English law and the parties hereby agree that the courts of England shall have non-exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute which may arise out of or in connection with this letter.

 

4


Please confirm your acceptance of the terms and conditions contained in this letter by countersigning below.

 

/s/ Mark Woodward


 

for and on behalf of Serena Software, Inc.

 

We confirm our agreement with the above terms and conditions

 

/s/ Gerald Perkel


 

for and on behalf of Merant plc

 

5


Exhibit A

Press Announcement

 

 

LOGO

 

Part 1

 

[SERENA Logo]    [Merant Logo]

 

Not for release, publication or distribution in or into Australia, Canada or Japan

 

For immediate release    3 March 2004

 

Recommended Cash and Share Offer

 

by

 

SERENA Software, Inc.

 

and by

 

Lehman Brothers

 

on its behalf

(outside of the United States)

 

for

 

the entire issued and to be issued share capital of

 

Merant plc

 

The Boards of SERENA Software, Inc. (“SERENA”) and Merant plc (“Merant”) announce that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash and share offer (the “Offer”) to be made by SERENA and by Lehman Brothers on its behalf (outside of the United States) for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Merant, including Merant Shares represented by Merant ADSs.

 

6


Strategic rationale

 

The acquisition of Merant will create the second largest provider of Enterprise Change Management (“ECM”) software solutions, serving the complex change management needs of at least 46 of the Fortune 50 largest companies worldwide, with a resulting combined installed base of over 15,000 customers. SERENA believes this installed base will provide the combined companies with distribution leverage to cross sell products, expand into new geographies, create new opportunities in channel development and generate a profitable and steady maintenance revenue stream.

 

The combination brings together two leaders in ECM with the complementary strengths of SERENA on mainframe platforms and Merant on distributed systems platforms and similar visions for future market share expansion.

 

The boards of directors of SERENA and Merant believe the combination should deliver significant strategic benefits and provide opportunities to reduce expenses and that the combined group would:

 

  create the leading ECM vendor with integrated software solutions running on all major operating systems, from the mainframe to UNIX, LINUX and NT distributed systems environments all the way to the worldwide web;

 

  accelerate SERENA’s ability to offer customers its vision of application life cycle management solutions branded as SERENA’s Application Framework for Enterprises (SAFE), thereby accessing larger markets and enabling the combined group to compete more effectively; and

 

  offer significant potential cost savings in the areas of overlap such as dual exchange listing, dual public company compliance obligations and dual administrative infrastructures as well as a number of other duplicative areas and initiatives.

 

Summary of the Offer terms

 

The Offer is 195 pence for each Merant Share which comprises 136.5 pence in cash and 0.04966 of a new SERENA Share. This is based on an exchange rate of US$1.8488 : £1.00 and a price per SERENA Share of US$21.78 (as explained in Appendix II).

 

SERENA will offer a mix and match election under which Merant Securityholders who validly accept the Offer may request to vary the proportions in which they receive SERENA Shares and cash in respect of their Merant Shares.

 

At 195 pence for each Merant Share, the Offer values the entire issued share capital of Merant at approximately £206 million (US$380 million). This is based on an exchange rate of US$1.8488 : £1.00 and a price per SERENA Share of US$21.78 (as explained in Appendix II). As of 31 January 2004, Merant had net cash and equivalents of £38.8 million (US$70.7 million based on an exchange rate of US$1.8202 : £1.00).

 

At 195 pence for each Merant Share, the Offer represents a premium of approximately:

 

  (i) 25 per cent. to the Closing Price of 155.5 pence per Merant Share on 2 March 2004, the last dealing day prior to the date of this announcement of the Offer; and

 

  (ii) 34 per cent. to the average daily Closing Price of 145.8 pence per Merant Share for the three months ended 2 March 2004.

 

7


On 2 March 2004 (the last dealing day prior to the date of this announcement of the Offer) at the then prevailing exchange rate of US$1.8386 : £1.00 and a SERENA Share Price of $20.95, the Offer values each Merant Share at 193 pence. On this basis, the Offer represents a premium of approximately 24 per cent. to the Closing Price of 155.5 pence per Merant Share on 2 March 2004.

 

SERENA has received irrevocable undertakings to accept the Offer representing approximately 7.4 per cent. of Merant’s existing issued share capital. SERENA has also received confirmations of intent to accept the Offer, representing in aggregate approximately 27.4 per cent. of Merant’s existing issued share capital.

 

In addition, SERENA has received an irrevocable undertaking from one Merant Director, Gerald Perkel, to accept the Offer in respect of all Merant Shares he receives as a result of the exercise of options during the period whilst the Offer is open for acceptance, representing up to 1,500,000 Merant Shares. No other Merant Director holds any options over Merant Shares.

 

Gerald Perkel, President and Chief Executive Officer of Merant, has agreed to join the Board of SERENA as a director, subject to the Offer becoming or being declared unconditional in all respects.

 

The Merant Board, which has been so advised by UBS Investment Bank considers the terms of the Offer fair from a financial point of view. In providing advice to the Merant Board, UBS Investment Bank has taken account of the Merant Board’s commercial assessments. Accordingly, the Merant Directors intend unanimously to recommend that Merant Securityholders accept the Offer.

 

Commenting on today’s announcement, Mark Woodward, President and Chief Executive Officer of SERENA, said:

 

“The acquisition of Merant brings together two of the leading companies meeting the ECM needs of many of the largest companies in the world. The combination will create a significant installed base of ECM customers that will not only generate a highly profitable maintenance revenue stream, but provide us with an opportunity to grow by cross selling our products. As each of us has complementary technologies and similar visions for future growth, the combination makes perfect business and financial sense.”

 

Gerald Perkel, President and Chief Executive Officer of Merant, said:

 

“The combination of Merant and SERENA creates an international industry leader in ECM software. We believe the combination of Merant and SERENA creates a unique combination of products, technology and people that can enable the expansion of applications for change management. We are also pleased that this transaction delivers incremental value to our shareholders.”

 

Enquiries

 

SERENA Software, Inc.

Mark Woodward

   Tel: +1 (650) 522 6531

Robert Pender

   Tel: +1 (650) 522 6604

Merant plc

Gerald Perkel

   Tel: +1 (503) 617 2735

Scott Hildebrandt

   Tel: +1 (503) 617 2401

Lehman Brothers (Financial Adviser to SERENA)

Keith Jue

   Tel: + 1 (650) 289 6000

Eric Wagner

    

Chris Nicholls

   Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7102 1000

James Rushton

    

 

8


UBS Investment Bank (Financial Adviser to Merant)

Seth Ferguson

   Tel: +1 (415) 352 5650

K.S. Jangbahadur

    

John Woolland

   Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7567 8000

 

SERENA has scheduled a conference call briefing on Wednesday 3 March 2004 at 3:30pm (San Francisco time) / 11:30pm (London time) / 6:30pm (New York time). A live simulcast and replay of the conference call will be available through SERENA at www.serena.com/03032004conferencecall for seven calendar days. A replay of the call will be available up to 10 March 2004 by dialing +1 (706) 645 9291 code #5839152.

 

The SERENA Directors accept responsibility for the information contained in this announcement which relates to the SERENA Group and the SERENA Directors. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the SERENA Directors (who have taken all reasonable care to ensure that such is the case) such information contained in this announcement is in accordance with the facts and does not omit anything likely to affect the import of such information.

 

The Merant Directors accept responsibility for the information contained in this announcement which relates to the Merant Group and the Merant Directors. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the Merant Directors (who have taken all reasonable care to ensure that such is the case) such information contained in this announcement is in accordance with the facts and does not omit anything likely to affect the import of such information.

 

Lehman Brothers, which is regulated in the UK by the Financial Services Authority, is acting for SERENA in connection with the Offer and no one else and will not be responsible to anyone other than SERENA for providing the protections afforded to customers of Lehman Brothers, nor for providing advice in relation to the Offer.

 

UBS Investment Bank is acting for Merant in connection with the Offer and no one else and will not be responsible to anyone other than Merant for providing the protections afforded to customers of UBS Investment Bank, nor for providing advice in relation to the Offer.

 

This announcement does not constitute an offer or an invitation to purchase any securities. The availability of the Offer to persons not resident in the United Kingdom or the United States may be affected by the laws of the relevant jurisdictions. Persons who are not resident in the United Kingdom or the United States, or who are subject to the laws of any jurisdiction other than the United Kingdom or the United States, should inform themselves about, and observe any applicable requirements.

 

It should be noted that by virtue of the conflicting provisions of the Code and the US securities laws, the Panel has agreed that the Acceptance Condition may be structured so that the Offer cannot become or be declared unconditional as to acceptances until such time as all other Conditions to the Offer have been satisfied, fulfilled or, to the extent permitted, waived. The Acceptance Condition in paragraph 1(a) of Appendix I has been drafted accordingly.

 

9


Unless otherwise determined by SERENA before publication of the Offer Document, it is not intended that the Offer will be made, directly or indirectly, in or into Australia, Canada or Japan and in such circumstances it will not be capable of acceptance in or from Australia, Canada or Japan. Accordingly, copies of this announcement are not being, and must not be, mailed or otherwise distributed or sent in or into Australia, Canada or Japan. Custodians, nominees and trustees should observe these restrictions and should not send or distribute this announcement in or into Australia, Canada or Japan.

 

SERENA will be filing a Registration Statement on Form S-4 with the SEC with respect to the SERENA Shares to be issued in the Offer which will include all information to be contained in the Offer Document. In addition, SERENA will file a Tender Offer Statement and other related documentation and Merant will file a Solicitation/Recommendation Statement with the SEC on the date the Offer Document is mailed to Merant Securityholders. Free copies of these documents will be available on the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. The Registration Statement on Form S-4 and the Tender Offer Statement may also be obtained at no charge from SERENA at 2755 Campus Drive, 3rd Floor, San Mateo, CA 94403-2538, USA and the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement may be obtained at no charge from Merant at 3445 NW 211th Terrace, Hillsboro, OR 97124, USA. Merant Securityholders are urged to read the Registration Statement on Form S-4, Tender Offer Statement, the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement and the related documentation when they become available as they will contain important information.

 

This announcement may contain forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 of the United States. These statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties and there are many factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from these statements. Such factors include economic, competitive and technological factors affecting SERENA’s and Merant’s operations, markets, services and prices as well as SERENA’s ability to integrate Merant’s businesses with SERENA’s and to realise synergies from the acquisition and the other factors detailed in SERENA’s and Merant’s SEC filings. The safe harbour protection afforded by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 does not apply to forward-looking statements made in connection with the Offer.

 

The Panel wishes to draw the attention of member firms of Nasdaq to certain UK dealing disclosure requirements following this announcement, which commences an Offer Period in accordance with the Code. The Code is published and administered by the Panel. An Offer Period is deemed to commence at the time when an announcement is made of a proposed or possible offer, with or without terms. Merant has equity securities traded on the London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. SERENA has equity securities traded on Nasdaq.

 

The disclosure requirements referred to above are set out in more detail in Rule 8 of the Code. In particular Rule 8.3 requires public disclosure of dealings during the Offer Period by persons who own or control or pursuant to an agreement or understanding (whether formal or informal), or who would as a result of any transaction own or control, 1 per cent. or more of any class of relevant securities of Merant and/or SERENA. Relevant securities include Merant Securities, SERENA Shares and instruments convertible into either Merant Securities or SERENA Shares. In the case of the Offer, this requirement will apply until the end of the Offer Period.

 

Disclosure should be made on an appropriate form no later than 12 noon London time on the business day following the date of the dealing transaction. These disclosures should be sent to a Regulatory Information Service in the UK and to the Panel (fax number: +44 (0)20 7638 1554).

 

The Panel requests that member firms advise those of their clients who wish to deal in the relevant securities of Merant or SERENA, whether in the US or in the UK, that they may be affected by these

 

10


requirements. If there is any doubt as to their application, the Panel should be consulted (telephone number: +44 (0)20 7638 0129, fax number: +44 (0)20 7638 1554).

 

This summary should be read in conjunction with the full text of the attached announcement. Appendix III to the attached announcement contains definitions of certain expressions used in this summary announcement.

 

11


LOGO

 

Part 2

 

[SERENA Logo]   [Merant Logo]

 

Not for release, publication or distribution in or into Australia, Canada or Japan

 

For immediate release   3 March 2004

 

Recommended Cash and Share Offer

 

by

 

SERENA

 

and by

 

Lehman Brothers

 

on its behalf

(outside of the United States)

 

for

 

the entire issued and to be issued share capital of

 

Merant

 

1. Introduction

 

The Boards of SERENA Software, Inc. (“SERENA”) and Merant plc (“Merant”) announce that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash and share offer (the “Offer”) to be made by SERENA and by Lehman Brothers on its behalf (outside of the United States) for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Merant, including Merant Shares represented by Merant ADSs.

 

12


The Offer is 195 pence for each Merant Share which comprises 136.5 pence in cash and 0.04966 of a new SERENA Share. This is based on an exchange rate of US$1.8488 : £1.00 and a price per SERENA Share of US$21.78 (as explained in Appendix II).

 

At 195 pence for each Merant Share, the Offer represents a premium of approximately:

 

(i) 25 per cent. to the Closing Price of 155.5 pence per Merant Share on 2 March 2004, the last dealing day prior to the date of this announcement of the Offer; and

 

(ii) 34 per cent. to the average daily Closing Price of 145.8 pence per Merant Share for the three months ended 2 March 2004.

 

On 2 March 2004 (the last dealing day prior to the date of this announcement of the Offer) at the then prevailing exchange rate of US$1.8386 : £1.00 and a SERENA Share Price of $20.95, the Offer values each Merant Share at 193 pence. On this basis, the Offer represents a premium of approximately 24 per cent. to the Closing Price of 155.5 pence per Merant Share on 2 March 2004.

 

SERENA has received irrevocable undertakings to accept the Offer in respect of approximately 7.4 per cent. of Merant’s existing issued ordinary share capital and confirmations of intent to accept the Offer in respect of a further 27.4 per cent. Further details of these undertakings and confirmation of intent are provided in paragraph 5 below.

 

2. The Offer

 

The Offer, which will be made on the terms and subject to the conditions set out below and in Appendix I to this announcement, and the further terms which will be set out in full in the Offer Document and the accompanying Acceptance Form(s), will be made on the following basis:

 

for every 1 Merant Share    136.5 pence in cash and 0.04966 of a new SERENA Share
for every 1 Merant ADS (each ADS representing 5 Merant Shares)    682.5 pence in cash and 0.2483 of a new SERENA Share

 

At 195 pence for each Merant Share, the Offer values the entire issued share capital of Merant at approximately £206 million (US$380 million). This is based on an exchange rate of US$1.8488 : £1.00 and price per SERENA Share of US$21.78 (as explained in Appendix II).

 

SERENA expects that the number of SERENA Shares that will be issued on full acceptance of the Offer will not be more than 5.9 million (representing approximately 13.3 per cent. of the issued and outstanding common stock of SERENA, as enlarged as a result of the Offer).

 

The new SERENA Shares issued to Merant Securityholders who accept the Offer will be credited as fully paid, will rank pari passu in all respects with existing SERENA Shares and will be entitled to all dividends and other distributions declared, made or paid after the date hereof. Appropriate adjustments to the number of SERENA Shares paid in the Offer will be made if SERENA effects a stock split, stock dividend or reverse stock split. The new SERENA Shares are expected to be authorised for listing, subject to official notice of issuance, on Nasdaq. It is not expected that application will be made for the new SERENA Shares to be admitted to dealings on any other stock exchange.

 

13


The Offer will extend, subject to the terms and conditions to be set out in the Offer Document and Acceptance Form(s), to all Merant Shares unconditionally allotted or issued on the date on which the Offer is made and any further Merant Shares unconditionally allotted or issued while the Offer remains open for acceptance (or prior to such earlier date as SERENA may, subject to the Code, decide). As part of the Offer being made to Merant Shareholders, an offer will also be made to holders of Merant ADSs to tender the Merant Shares underlying such ADSs into the Offer.

 

The Merant Shares will be acquired by SERENA pursuant to the Offer fully paid and free from all liens, charges, equitable interests, encumbrances and other third party rights and interests of any nature whatsoever and together with all rights now or hereafter attaching thereto, including the right to receive and retain all dividends and other distributions (if any) declared, made or paid hereafter.

 

Fractions of new SERENA Shares will not be issued to accepting Merant Securityholders. Fractional entitlements to the new SERENA Shares will be aggregated and sold in the market and the net proceeds of sale distributed pro rata to the holders of Merant Shares entitled to them. Such payment will be made in pounds sterling, the proceeds having been converted from US Dollars at a prevailing exchange rate selected by SERENA at the time of payment. However, individual entitlements to amounts of less than £2.50 will not be paid to holders of Merant Shares but will be retained for the benefit of the enlarged SERENA Group.

 

If sufficient acceptances are received and/or sufficient Merant Shares are otherwise acquired, SERENA intends to apply the provisions of Sections 428 to 430F (inclusive) of the Companies Act to acquire compulsorily any outstanding Merant Shares to which the Offer relates.

 

When the Offer becomes or is declared unconditional in all respects, SERENA intends to procure the making of an application by Merant for the removal of Merant Shares from the Official List and for the cancellation of trading in Merant Shares on the London Stock Exchange’s market for listed securities. It is anticipated that cancellation of listing and trading will take effect no earlier than 20 business days after the Offer becomes or is declared unconditional in all respects. In such circumstances SERENA also intends to apply for de-listing of the Merant ADSs from Nasdaq. Such de-listings and cancellation would significantly reduce the liquidity and marketability of any Merant Securities in respect of which the Offer has not been accepted.

 

SERENA and Merant have agreed that in certain circumstances they may choose to implement the acquisition of the Merant Shares by way of a scheme of arrangement under Section 425 of the Companies Act rather than the Offer. Further details are set out in Part 2 of Appendix I.

 

3. Mix and Match election

 

Merant Securityholders who validly accept the Offer will be able to request under the mix and match election to vary the proportions in which they receive SERENA Shares and cash in respect of their Merant Securities.

 

The maximum number of new SERENA Shares to be issued under the Offer and the maximum amount of cash to be paid under the Offer will not be varied as a result of the mix and match election. Accordingly, a Merant Securityholder’s mix and match election will be satisfied only to the extent that other Merant Securityholders make opposite elections. To the extent that elections cannot be satisfied in full, they will be scaled down on a pro rata basis. To the extent that elections can be satisfied, electing Merant Securityholders will receive new SERENA Shares instead of cash, and vice versa.

 

14


Accordingly, Merant Securityholders who make mix and match elections will not know the exact number of new SERENA Shares or the amount of cash they will receive until settlement of the consideration under the Offer, although an announcement of the approximate extent to which mix and match elections will be satisfied will be made two days after the mix and match election ceases to be open for acceptance.

 

Insofar as a Merant Securityholder is entitled to receive additional cash under the mix and match election, it will be payable in an amount per SERENA Share equal to £11.78 for each such SERENA Share (and proportionately for each part thereof) to which the shareholder would otherwise have been entitled under the basic terms of the Offer if the shareholder had not elected to receive additional cash. This is based on an exchange rate of US$1.8488 : £1.00 and price per SERENA Share of US$21.78 (as explained in Appendix II).

 

Although the Offer will remain open for a subsequent offer period of at least 14 calendar days after the date on which the Offer becomes or is declared unconditional in all respects, the mix and match election will remain open until, but not beyond, 3:00pm London time, 10:00am New York City time on the date falling five calendar days after the Offer becomes or is declared unconditional in all respects. Mix and match elections must be made at the same time as the acceptances of the Offer to which they relate, on the relevant Acceptance Form. Merant Securityholders who do not make a mix and match election or who do not accept the Offer until after the fifth calendar day after the Offer becomes or is declared unconditional in all respects will receive the basic entitlement of 136.5 pence in cash and 0.04966 of a new SERENA Share for every Merant Share held (directly or through ADSs).

 

A mix and match election made by a Merant Securityholder may not be changed after the time that it is first made on the relevant Acceptance Form. However, acceptances, including the associated mix and match election, may be withdrawn in accordance with the procedures that will be set out in the Offer Document.

 

The mix and match election will be conditional upon the Offer becoming or being declared unconditional in all respects.

 

4. Recommendation

 

The Merant Board, which has been so advised by UBS Investment Bank, considers the terms of the Offer fair from a financial point of view. In providing advice to the Merant Board, UBS Investment Bank has taken account of the Merant Board’s commercial assessments. Accordingly, the Merant Directors intend unanimously to recommend that Merant Securityholders accept the Offer.

 

Merant Directors have irrevocably undertaken to accept the Offer in respect of their own beneficial holdings, comprising 381,389 Merant Shares in aggregate (representing 0.36 per cent. of Merant’s existing issued share capital). One Merant Director, Gerald Perkel, has also irrevocably undertaken to accept the Offer in respect of all Merant Shares he receives as a result of the exercise of options during the period whilst the Offer is open for acceptance, representing up to 1,500,000 Merant Shares. No other Merant Director holds any options over Merant Shares.

 

5. Undertakings and confirmations of intent to accept the Offer

 

SERENA has received undertakings and confirmations of intent to accept the Offer from certain Merant Securityholders as set out below. The percentage figures are based on the number of Merant Shares in issue on 2 March 2004, being the latest practicable date prior to the date of this announcement.

 

15


Shareholder


   Number of
Merant
Shares


   Per cent.

   Options

Undertakings


              

J Michael Gullard

   126,774    0.12%    —  

Michel Berty

   24,758    0.02%    —  

Harold Hughes

   134,758    0.13%    —  

Barry X Lynn

   24,758    0.02%    —  

Gerald Perkel

   45,583    0.04%    1,500,000

Don C Watters

   24,758    0.02%    —  

Merant Trustees Limited

   7,415,488    7.03%    —  
    
  
    

Total Undertakings

   7,796,877    7.39%    —  

Confirmations of Intent


              

Merant Securityholders(1)

   28,862,097    27.35%    —  
    
  
    

Total

   36,658,974    34.74%    —  
    
  
    
(1) Including Schroder Investment Management Limited who hold 22,135,805 Merant Shares (20.98%)

 

SERENA has therefore received undertakings to accept the Offer in respect of 7,796,877 Merant Shares in aggregate, representing approximately 7.4 per cent. of Merant’s existing issued ordinary share capital and confirmation of intent to accept the Offer in respect of a further 28,862,097 Merant Shares in aggregate, representing an additional 27.4 per cent.

 

The undertakings provided by the Merant Directors cease to be binding only if the Offer lapses or is withdrawn or if the Offer Document is not posted within 28 days of this announcement (or such longer period as may be agreed with the Panel).

 

The undertaking provided by Merant Trustees Limited ceases to be binding in the same circumstances as those provided by Merant Directors but in addition will lapse if a higher offer is made by a third party: (i) which is recommended by Merant and SERENA has not increased its offer within 7 days; or (ii) such offer is declared unconditional in all respects.

 

The confirmations of intent are non-legally binding statements of current intentions.

 

6. Inducement fee

 

In consideration of, and as an inducement to, SERENA making an offer for Merant, Merant has agreed to pay SERENA a fee of £2.06 million (US$3.79 million based on an exchange rate of US$1.8386 : £1.00) in certain limited circumstances.

 

Save in certain limited circumstances including failure to obtain approval for the Offer under the HSR Act or other applicable antitrust law, this fee is payable on either of the following events:

 

(a) if a higher competing offer or other competing transaction (or an intention to do either) is publicly announced by a third party, and the Merant Board fails to reaffirm its unanimous recommendation of the Offer and subsequently the Offer lapses or is withdrawn; or

 

(b) if the Board of Merant withdraws or modifies its recommendation of the Offer.

 

7. Information on SERENA

 

SERENA is an industry leader in ECM solutions focused on the mainframe platform. For over twenty years SERENA has focused exclusively on providing solutions that help companies automate change to the applications that run their businesses. Today its products are in use at over 3,600 customer sites – including at least 46 of the Fortune 50. SERENA believes its SERENA Application Framework for Enterprises (SAFE) is the next step in ECM, providing cross-platform, cross-process and cross-organizational support across application life cycle processes. With headquarters in San Mateo, California, SERENA serves customers worldwide through local offices and an international network of distributors.

 

16


SERENA Shares are listed on Nasdaq under the symbol SRNA. SERENA has a current market capitalisation of approximately US$803 million based on the Closing Price on 2 March 2004 being the last dealing day prior to the date of this announcement. In the year ended 31 January 2004 SERENA reported profit before tax of US$33.7 million on revenues of US$105.6 million. As at 31 January 2004 SERENA had total cash and investments of US$377 million.

 

8. Information on Merant

 

Merant is a leading provider of software and services for managing code, content and other business-critical assets. Merant designs, develops and markets software products and services for ECM, software configuration management and web content management, under the Merant brand (formerly the PVCS® brand). Merant solutions help companies improve their ability to manage change of software applications, code and web content. Merant software is used for software configuration management and web content management. In the year ended 30 April 2003, Merant generated approximately half its revenue from maintenance fees, 38 per cent. from the sale of licenses and the remainder of its revenue from consulting and training. Merant has approximately 535 employees worldwide.

 

Merant Shares are listed on the Official List and publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol MRN, and (in ADS form) on Nasdaq under the symbol MRNT. Merant has a current market capitalization of approximately £164 million based on the Closing Price on 2 March 2004 being the last dealing day prior to the date of this announcement. In the year ended 30 April 2003, under UK GAAP, Merant reported profit before tax, amortisation of goodwill and exceptional charges of US$5.472 million on revenues of US$122.1 million, using average monthly exchange rates.

 

Merant released its unaudited third quarter results on 3 March 2004. For the unaudited nine months to 31 January 2004, under UK GAAP, Merant reported: revenue of US$91.7 million and profit before taxation, amortisation of goodwill and exceptional charges of US$7.6 million, using average monthly exchange rates. As at 31 January 2004 Merant had net cash of US$70.7 million. This is based on an exchange rate of US$1.8202 : £1.00 on 31 January 2004.

 

9. Strategic rationale and background to the Offer

 

The acquisition of Merant will create the second largest provider of ECM software solutions, serving the complex change management needs of at least 46 of the Fortune 50 largest companies worldwide, with a resulting combined installed base of over 15,000 customers. SERENA believes this installed base will provide the combined companies with distribution leverage to cross sell products, expand into new geographies, create new opportunities in channel development and generate a profitable and steady maintenance revenue stream.

 

The combination brings together two leaders in ECM with the complementary strengths of SERENA on mainframe platforms and Merant on distributed systems platforms and similar visions for future market share expansion.

 

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The boards of directors of SERENA and Merant believe the combination should deliver significant strategic benefits and provide opportunities to reduce expenses and that the combined group would:

 

  create the leading ECM vendor with integrated software solutions running on all major operating systems, from the mainframe to UNIX, LINUX and NT distributed systems environments all the way to the worldwide web;

 

  combine SERENA’s market leading mainframe Software Configuration Management (“SCM”) with Merant’s market leading enterprise distributed SCM product;

 

  deepen and strengthen the customer base by combining SERENA’s more than 3,600 customers with Merant’s more than 15,000 customer accounts;

 

  accelerate SERENA’s ability to offer customers its vision of application life cycle management solutions branded as SERENA’s Application Framework for Enterprises (SAFE), thereby accessing larger markets and enabling the combined group to compete more effectively; and

 

  offer significant potential cost savings in the areas of overlap such as dual exchange listing, dual public company compliance obligations and dual administrative infrastructures as well as a number of other duplicative areas and initiatives.

 

Both SERENA and Merant have been pursuing similar strategies and strategic investments to enable the application of change management technology beyond SCM to broader applications within information technology.

 

10. Management and employees

 

SERENA recognises the importance to Merant’s business of the skills and experience of Merant’s management team and employees.

 

SERENA has given assurances to the Merant Board that the existing employment rights, including pension rights, of the management and employees of Merant will be fully honoured.

 

Gerald Perkel, President and Chief Executive Officer of Merant, has agreed to join the Board of SERENA as a director, subject to the Offer becoming or being declared unconditional in all respects.

 

11. Merant Share Schemes

 

The Offer will extend, subject to the terms and Conditions to be set out in the Offer Document and Acceptance Form(s), to all Merant Shares unconditionally allotted or issued fully paid (or credited as fully paid) upon exercise of options under the Merant Share Schemes while the Offer remains open for acceptance (or until such earlier date as SERENA may, subject to the provisions of the Code, determine). Appropriate proposals will be made to the holders of options under the Merant Share Schemes in due course and further information will be available in the Offer Document.

 

12. Financing of cash component

 

SERENA intends to fund the cash component of the Offer from its existing cash resources.

 

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13. General

 

Save for the irrevocable undertakings or as disclosed herein, neither SERENA nor any director of SERENA, nor to SERENA’s knowledge, any person acting in concert with SERENA, owns or controls any Merant Securities or holds any options to purchase any Merant Shares or has entered into any derivative referenced to securities of Merant which remain outstanding. In the interests of secrecy, SERENA has not made any enquiries in this respect of certain parties who may be deemed by the Panel to be acting in concert with it for the purpose of the Offer.

 

The timetable for the Offer will be as approved by the Panel but will also be subject to certain requirements of the SEC. The formal Offer Document, setting out details of the Offer, and enclosing the Acceptance Form(s), will be dispatched to Merant Securityholders in due course.

 

This announcement does not constitute an offer or an invitation to purchase any securities. The availability of the Offer to persons not resident in the United Kingdom or the United States may be affected by the laws of the relevant jurisdictions. Persons who are not resident in the United Kingdom or the United States, or who are subject to the laws of any jurisdiction other than the United Kingdom or the United States, should inform themselves about, and observe any applicable requirements.

 

Unless otherwise determined by SERENA before publication of the Offer Document, it is not intended that the Offer will be made, directly or indirectly, in or into Australia, Canada or Japan and in such circumstances it will not be capable of acceptance in or from Australia, Canada or Japan. Accordingly, copies of this announcement are not being, and must not be, mailed or otherwise distributed or sent in or into Australia, Canada or Japan. Custodians, nominees and trustees should observe these restrictions and should not send or distribute this announcement in or into Australia, Canada or Japan.

 

SERENA and Merant have agreed that in certain circumstances they may choose to implement the acquisition of the Merant Shares by way of scheme of arrangement under Section 425 of the Companies Act. Further details are set out in Part 2 of Appendix I.

 

The SERENA Directors accept responsibility for the information contained in this announcement which relates to the SERENA Group and the SERENA Directors. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the SERENA Directors (who have taken all reasonable care to ensure that such is the case) such information contained in this announcement is in accordance with the facts and does not omit anything likely to affect the import of such information.

 

The Merant Directors accept responsibility for the information contained in this announcement which relates to the Merant Group and the Merant Directors. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the Merant Directors (who have taken all reasonable care to ensure that such is the case) such information contained in this announcement is in accordance with the facts and does not omit anything likely to affect the import of such information.

 

Lehman Brothers, which is regulated in the UK by the Financial Services Authority, is acting for SERENA in connection with the Offer and no one else and will not be responsible to anyone other than SERENA for providing the protections afforded to customers of Lehman Brothers, nor for providing advice in relation to the Offer.

 

UBS Investment Bank is acting for Merant in connection with the Offer and no one else and will not be responsible to anyone other than

 

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Merant for providing the protections afforded to customers of UBS Investment Bank, nor for providing advice in relation to the Offer.

 

It should be noted that by virtue of the conflicting provisions of the Code and the US securities laws, the Panel has agreed that the Acceptance Condition may be structured so that the Offer cannot become or be declared unconditional as to acceptances until such time as all other Conditions to the Offer have been satisfied, fulfilled or, to the extent permitted, waived. The Acceptance Condition in paragraph 1 (a) of Appendix I has been drafted accordingly.

 

The Panel wishes to draw the attention of member firms of Nasdaq to certain UK dealing disclosure requirements following this announcement, which commences an Offer Period in accordance with the Code. The Code is published and administered by the Panel. An Offer Period is deemed to commence at the time when an announcement is made of a proposed or possible offer, with or without terms. Merant has equity securities traded on the London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. SERENA has equity securities traded on Nasdaq.

 

The disclosure requirements referred to above are set out in more detail in Rule 8 of the Code. In particular Rule 8.3 requires public disclosure of dealings during the Offer Period by persons who own or control or pursuant to an agreement or understanding (whether formal or informal), or who would as a result of any transaction own or control, 1 per cent. or more of any class of relevant securities of Merant and/or SERENA. Relevant securities include Merant Securities, SERENA Shares and instruments convertible into either Merant Securities or SERENA Shares. In the case of the Offer for Merant, this requirement will apply until the end of the Offer Period.

 

Disclosure should be made on an appropriate form no later than 12 noon London time on the business day following the date of the dealing transaction. These disclosures should be sent to a Regulatory Information Service in the UK and to the Panel (fax number: +44 (0)20 7638 1554).

 

The Panel requests that member firms advise those of their clients who wish to deal in the relevant securities of Merant or SERENA, whether in the US or in the UK, that they may be affected by these requirements. If there is any doubt as to their application, the Panel should be consulted (telephone number: +44 (0)20 7638 0129, fax number: +44 (0)20 7638 1554).

 

As at 2 March 2004, the last practical date prior to this announcement:

 

(i) there were 105,516,545 Merant Shares (International Securities Identification Number GB0002483831 for Merant Shares listed on the London Stock Exchange and US5873361084 for Merant ADSs) in issue;

 

(ii) there were 38,352,090 SERENA Shares (International Securities Identification Number US8174921010) in issue;

 

(iii) Merant had outstanding options to subscribe for up to 16,443,389 Merant Shares (excluding options over issued Merant Shares granted by Merant’ employee benefit trusts);

 

(iv) SERENA had vested and unvested options outstanding in respect of 4,980,959 SERENA Shares; and

 

(v) SERENA had convertible bonds (International Securities Identification Number US817492AA91) outstanding which in certain circumstances may convert into up to 9,912,694 SERENA Shares.

 

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SERENA will be filing a Registration Statement on Form S-4 with the SEC with respect to the SERENA Shares to be issued in the Offer which will include all information to be contained in the Offer Document. In addition, SERENA will file a Tender Offer Statement and other related documentation and Merant will file a Solicitation/Recommendation Statement with the SEC on the date the Offer Document is mailed to Merant Securityholders. Free copies of these documents will be available on the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. The Registration Statement on Form S-4 and the Tender Offer Statement may also be obtained at no charge from SERENA at 2755 Campus Drive, 3rd Floor, San Mateo, CA 94403-2538, USA and the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement may be obtained at no charge from Merant at 3445 NW 211th Terrace, Hillsboro, OR 97124, USA. Merant Securityholders are urged to read the Registration Statement on Form S-4, Tender Offer Statement, the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement and the related documentation when they become available as they will contain important information.

 

This announcement may contain forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 of the United States. These statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties and there are many factors which may cause actual results to differ materially from these statements. Such factors include economic, competitive and technological factors affecting SERENA’s and Merant’s operations, markets, services and prices as well as SERENA’s ability to integrate Merant’s businesses with SERENA’s and to realise synergies from the acquisition and the other factors detailed in SERENA’s and Merant’s SEC filings. The safe harbour protection afforded by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 does not apply to forward-looking statements made in connection with the Offer.

 

Appendix III to this announcement contains definitions of certain expressions used in this announcement.

 

Enquiries

 

SERENA Software, Inc.

Mark Woodward

   Tel: +1 (650) 522 6531

Robert Pender

   Tel: +1 (650) 522 6604

Merant plc

Gerald Perkel

   Tel: +1 (503) 617 2735

Scott Hildebrandt

   Tel: +1 (503) 617 2401

Lehman Brothers (Financial Adviser to SERENA)

Keith Jue

   Tel: + 1 (650) 289 6000

Eric Wagner

    

Chris Nicholls

   Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7102 1000

James Rushton

    

UBS Investment Bank (Financial Adviser to Merant)

Seth Ferguson

   Tel: +1 (415) 352 5650

K.S. Jangbahadur

    

John Woolland

   Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7567 8000

 

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APPENDIX I

CONDITIONS AND CERTAIN FURTHER TERMS OF THE OFFER

 

1. Conditions of the Offer

 

The Offer, which will be made by SERENA on its own behalf in the United States and by Lehman Brothers on behalf of SERENA elsewhere, will be subject to the following conditions:

 

(a) valid acceptances being received (and not, where permitted, withdrawn) by not later than 3:00 pm (London time), 10:00 am (New York City time), on the first closing date of the Offer (or such later time(s) and/or date(s) as SERENA may, subject to the rules of the City Code or with the consent of the Panel and in accordance with the Exchange Act, decide) in respect of not less than 90 per cent. (or such lower percentage as SERENA may decide) in nominal value of the Merant Securities to which the Offer relates, provided that this condition will not be satisfied unless SERENA (together with any of its wholly-owned subsidiaries) shall have acquired or agreed to acquire, whether pursuant to the Offer or otherwise, Merant Securities carrying, in aggregate, more than 50 per cent. of the voting rights then exercisable at general meetings of Merant, including for this purpose (to the extent, if any, required by the Panel) any such voting rights attaching to any Merant Securities which are unconditionally allotted or issued before the Offer becomes or is declared unconditional as to acceptances, whether pursuant to the exercise of any outstanding conversion or subscription rights or otherwise and; for this purpose:

 

  (i) the expression “Merant Securities to which the Offer relates” shall be construed in accordance with sections 428 to 430F of the Companies Act; and

 

  (ii) Merant Securities which have been unconditionally allotted shall be deemed to carry the voting rights which they will carry upon issue;

 

provided that, unless SERENA otherwise determines, this condition (a) shall be capable of being satisfied only at a time when all of the other conditions (b) to (k) inclusive have been either satisfied, fulfilled or, to the extent permitted, waived.

 

(b) the new SERENA Shares having been authorised for listing, subject to official notice of issuance, on Nasdaq and the Registration Statement having been declared effective;

 

(c) no Third Party having taken, instituted, implemented or threatened in writing any action, proceedings, suit, investigation or enquiry, or made, proposed or enacted, any statute, regulation or order or taken any other steps and there continuing not to be outstanding any statute, regulation, order or other matter which in each case would reasonably be expected to:

 

  (i)

make the Offer, its implementation or the acquisition or proposed acquisition by SERENA or any U.S. or U.K. subsidiary of SERENA of any or all shares or other securities in (or the equivalent), or control or management of, Merant or any member of the Wider Merant Group void, illegal or unenforceable in or under the laws of any relevant jurisdiction, or otherwise directly or indirectly materially restrain, prevent, prohibit, materially restrict or materially delay the same or impose additional material conditions or obligations with respect to the Offer or such acquisition, or otherwise materially impede, challenge or interfere with the Offer or such acquisition, or require material amendment to the terms of the Offer or the

 

22


 

acquisition or proposed acquisition of any Merant Securities or the acquisition of control of Merant or the Wider Merant Group by SERENA;

 

  (ii) limit or delay the ability of any member of the SERENA Group or any member of the Wider Merant Group to acquire or to hold or to exercise effectively, directly or indirectly, all or any rights of ownership in respect of shares or other securities (or the equivalent) in, or to exercise voting or management control over, any member of the Wider Merant Group or any member of the SERENA Group to an extent which is material in the context of the Offer;

 

  (iii) require, prevent or delay the divestiture or alter the terms envisaged for any proposed divestiture by any member of the SERENA Group of any shares or other securities (or the equivalent) in Merant to an extent which is material in the context of the Offer;

 

  (iv) require, prevent or delay the divestiture or alter the terms envisaged for any proposed divestiture by any member of the SERENA Group or by any member of the Wider Merant Group of all or any portion of their respective businesses, assets or properties or limit the ability of any of them to conduct any of their respective businesses or to own or control any of their respective assets or properties or any part thereof to an extent which is material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole or the SERENA Group taken as a whole;

 

  (v) except pursuant to Part XIIIA of the Companies Act, require any member of the SERENA Group or of the Wider Merant Group to acquire, or to offer to acquire, any shares or other securities (or the equivalent) in any member of either group owned by any third party or to sell or offer to sell any shares or other securities (or the equivalent in), or any asset or any member of the Wider Merant Group to an extent which is material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole or the SERENA Group taken as a whole;

 

  (vi) limit the ability of any member of the SERENA Group or of the Wider Merant Group to conduct or integrate or coordinate its business, or any part of it, with the businesses or any part of the businesses of any other member of the SERENA Group or of the Wider Merant Group to an extent which is material in the context of the Offer;

 

  (vii) result in any member of the SERENA Group or the Wider Merant Group ceasing to be able to carry on business under any name under which it presently does so to an extent which is material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole or the SERENA Group taken as a whole; or

 

  (viii) otherwise adversely affect the business, assets, profits, financial or trading position of any member of the Wider Merant Group or of the SERENA Group to an extent which is material in the context of the Offer, and

 

  (ix) all applicable time periods during which any Third Party could decide to take, institute or threaten any such action, proceeding, suit, investigation, enquiry or reference or otherwise intervene under the laws or regulations of any relevant jurisdiction having expired, lapsed or been terminated;

 

(d) without limitation to condition (c) above:

 

  (i)

all filings having been made and all or any applicable waiting periods and other time periods (including any extensions thereof) under the HSR Act and the regulations thereunder having

 

23


 

expired, lapsed or been terminated as appropriate in each case in respect of the proposed acquisition of Merant by SERENA, or any matters arising from that proposed acquisition;

 

  (ii) insofar as the merger provision of the Enterprise Act 2002 may be applicable, the Office of Fair Trading indicating in terms satisfactory to SERENA, that it does not intend to refer the proposed acquisition of Merant by SERENA, or any matter arising therefrom, to the Competition Commission, or the statutory period for any such referral expiring without such reference having been made, or the Office of Fair Trading accepting undertakings from SERENA in terms satisfactory to SERENA, in lieu of referring the proposed acquisition by SERENA of Merant, or any matter arising therefrom, to the Competition Commission; and

 

  (iii) no statute, rule, regulation, executive order, decree, ruling or injunction having been enacted, entered, promulgated or enforced by any court or other governmental or regulatory entity having jurisdiction over the Offer, the Wider Merant Group or the SERENA Group that prohibits, restrains or enjoins the consummation of the Offer.

 

(e) all necessary notifications and filings having been made, all applicable waiting and other time periods (including any extensions of such waiting and other time periods) under any applicable legislation or regulation of any relevant jurisdiction having expired, lapsed or been terminated (as appropriate) and all statutory or regulatory obligations in any relevant jurisdiction having been complied with in each case in connection with the Offer or the acquisition or proposed acquisition of any shares or other securities (or the equivalent) in Merant or control (directly or indirectly) of Merant or any other member of the Wider Merant Group by any member of the SERENA Group or the carrying on by any member of the Wider Merant Group of its business, where the absence thereof would have a material adverse affect in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole;

 

(f) all necessary Authorisations in any jurisdiction for or in respect of the Offer or the acquisition or proposed acquisition of any shares or other securities in Merant or control (directly or indirectly) of Merant or any other member of the Wider Merant Group by any member of the SERENA Group or the carrying on by any member of the Wider Merant Group of its business in any jurisdiction having been obtained, in terms and in a form satisfactory to SERENA, from all appropriate Third Parties or from any persons or bodies with whom any member of the Wider Merant Group has entered into contractual arrangements, in each case where the absence of such Authorisation would have a material adverse effect in the context of the Offer and all such Authorisations remaining in full force and effect at the time at which the Offer becomes otherwise unconditional in all respects and there being no notice of any intention to revoke, suspend, restrict, adversely modify or not to renew any of the same;

 

(g) except as fairly disclosed to SERENA by or on behalf of Merant, or disclosed in Merant filings with the SEC, or as disclosed in the Annual Report and Accounts of Merant, or as publicly announced by Merant (by the delivery of an announcement to a Regulatory Information Service), prior to the date of this announcement, there being no provision of any arrangement, agreement, license, permit, franchise or other instrument to which any member of the Wider Merant Group is a party, or by or to which any such member or any of its assets is or are or may be bound, entitled or subject or any circumstance, which, in each case as a consequence of the Offer or the acquisition or proposed acquisition of any shares or other securities in, or control of, Merant or any other member of the Wider Merant Group by any member of the SERENA Group or otherwise, could or might reasonably be expected to result in, (in any case to an extent which is or would be material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole):

 

  (i) any monies borrowed by or any other indebtedness or liabilities (actual or contingent) of, or any grant available to, any member of the Wider Merant Group being or becoming repayable or capable of being declared repayable immediately or prior to its stated repayment date or the ability of any member of the Wider Merant Group to borrow monies or incur any indebtedness being withdrawn or inhibited or becoming capable of being withdrawn;

 

24


  (ii) the creation or enforcement of any mortgage, charge or other security interest over the whole or any part of the business, property, assets or interests of any member of the Wider Merant Group or any such mortgage, charge or other security interest (wherever created, arising or having arisen) becoming enforceable;

 

  (iii) any such arrangement, agreement, license, permit, franchise or instrument, or the rights, liabilities, obligations or interests of any member of the Wider Merant Group thereunder, being, or becoming capable of being, terminated or adversely modified or affected or any adverse action being taken or any obligation or liability arising thereunder;

 

  (iv) any asset or interest of any member of the Wider Merant Group being or falling to be disposed of or ceasing to be available to any member of the Wider Merant Group or any right arising under which any such asset or interest could be required to be disposed of or could cease to be available to any member of the Wider Merant Group, in each case, otherwise than in the ordinary course of business;

 

  (v) any member of the Wider Merant Group ceasing to be able to carry on business under any name under which it presently does so;

 

  (vi) the creation of liabilities (actual or contingent) by any member of the Wider Merant Group, otherwise than in the ordinary course of business;

 

  (vii) the rights, liabilities, obligations or interests of any member of the Wider Merant Group under any such arrangement, agreement, license, permit, franchise or other instrument or the interests or business of any such member in or with any other person, firm, company or body (or any arrangement or arrangements relating to any such interests or business) being terminated, adversely modified or affected;

 

  (viii) the financial or trading position of any member of the Wider Merant Group being prejudiced or adversely affected, or

 

  (ix) no event having occurred which, under any provision of any such arrangement, agreement, license, permit or other instrument, could result in any of the events or circumstances which are referred to in paragraphs (i) to (viii) of this Condition (g) in any case to an extent which is or would be material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole;

 

(h) since 30 April 2003 and except as disclosed in the Annual Report and Accounts of Merant, or in Merant filings with the SEC, or as otherwise publicly announced by Merant (by the delivery of an announcement to a Regulatory Information Service), or as otherwise fairly disclosed to SERENA by or on behalf of Merant prior to the date of this announcement no member of the Wider Merant Group having:

 

  (i)

issued or agreed to issue, or authorised or proposed the issue of, additional shares or securities of any class, or securities convertible into or exchangeable for, or rights, warrants or options to subscribe for or acquire, any such shares, securities or convertible securities

 

25


 

other than as between Merant and wholly-owned subsidiaries of Merant and other than any options granted as disclosed to SERENA prior to the date of the announcement and any shares, with the consent of SERENA issued upon the exercise of any options granted under any of the Merant Share Option Schemes;

 

  (ii) purchased or redeemed or repaid any of its own shares or other securities or reduced or made any other change to any part of its share capital (other than with respect to any wholly-owned subsidiary of Merant);

 

  (iii) recommended, declared, issued, paid or made or proposed to recommend declare, pay, issue or make any bonus, dividend or other distribution whether payable in cash or otherwise (other than to Merant or a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merant);

 

  (iv) made, committed to make, authorised, proposed or announced an intention to propose any change in its share or loan capital;

 

  (v) merged with, demerged or acquired any body corporate, partnership or business, or (other than a transaction between Merant and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merant) acquired or disposed of or transferred, mortgaged or charged or created any security interest over any assets or any right, title or interest in any assets (including shares in any undertaking and trade investments) or authorised the same (which is material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole);

 

  (vi) issued, authorised or proposed the issue of, or authorisation of or made any change in or to any debentures or (except in the ordinary course of business) incurred or increased any indebtedness or liability (actual or contingent), including pursuant to any agreements or arrangements existing prior to the date of this announcement, which in any case is material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole;

 

  (vii) entered into, varied, or authorised any agreement, transaction, arrangement or commitment (whether in respect of capital expenditure or otherwise), and which in any case is reasonably likely to be material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole or the SERENA Group taken as a whole, as the case may be, which:

 

  (A) is of a long term, onerous or unusual nature or magnitude or which is reasonably likely to involve an obligation of such nature or magnitude; or

 

  (B) which is reasonably likely to restrict the business of any member of the Wider Merant Group or any member of the SERENA Group; or

 

  (C) is other than in the ordinary course of business;

 

  (viii) entered into or varied or made any offer to enter into or vary the terms of, any contract, agreement or arrangement with any of the directors of Merant or with Stephen King, Scott Hildebrandt, Diane Williams, Robert Blaskowsky, Stephen Going, Robert Dunne, Brian Unruh or Rees Withers;

 

  (ix)

(other than in respect of any member which is or was at this time dormant) taken or proposed any corporate action or had any legal proceedings instituted or threatened in writing against it or petition presented or order made for its winding-up (voluntarily or otherwise), dissolution or reorganisation or for the appointment of a receiver, administrator, administrative receiver,

 

26


 

trustee or similar officer of all or any part of its assets and revenues or any analogous proceedings in any jurisdiction or appointed any analogous person in any jurisdiction which in any case is material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole;

 

  (x) been unable, or admitted in writing that it is unable, to pay its debts as they fall due or having stopped or suspended (or threatened to stop or suspend) payment of its debts generally or ceased or threatened to cease carrying on all or a substantial part of its business which in any case is material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole;

 

  (xi) waived or compromised or settled any claim in a manner which is material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole;

 

  (xii) made any alteration to its memorandum or articles of association that is material in the context of the Offer;

 

  (xiii) implemented, effected or authorised, or proposed or announced its intention to implement, effect, authorise or propose any reconstruction, amalgamation, commitment, merger, scheme or other transaction or arrangement except (in the case of members of the Wider Merant Group other than Merant) to an extent which is not material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole;

 

  (xiv) amended the terms (including the terms relating to acceleration or vesting) of any Merant Share Option Schemes in a manner that is material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole;

 

  (xv) entered into any agreement, commitment or arrangement or passed any resolution or made any offer (which remains open for acceptance) or proposed or announced any intention with respect to any of the transactions, matters or events referred to in this Condition (h);

 

(i) since 30 April 2003 and except as disclosed in the Annual Report and Accounts of Merant, or in Merant filings with the SEC, or as otherwise publicly announced by Merant (by the delivery of an announcement to a Regulatory Information Service) or as otherwise fairly disclosed to SERENA by or on behalf of Merant prior to the date of this announcement:

 

  (i) there having been no adverse change or deterioration in the business, assets, financial or trading positions or profit or prospects of any member of the Wider Merant Group which in any case is material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole;

 

  (ii) no contingent or other liability of any member of the Wider Merant Group having arisen or become apparent or increased which in any case is material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole;

 

  (iii) no litigation, arbitration proceedings, prosecution or other legal proceedings to which any member of the Wider Merant Group is or is reasonably likely to become a party (whether as plaintiff, defendant or otherwise) having been threatened, announced, implemented or instituted by or against or remaining outstanding against or in respect of any member of the Wider Merant Group which in any case is material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole; and

 

  (iv)

SERENA not having discovered that any member of the Wider Merant Group or any partnership company or other entity in which any member of the Wider Merant Group has a significant

 

27


 

economic interest and which is not a subsidiary undertaking of Merant is subject to any liability (actual or contingent) which is not disclosed in the Annual Report and Accounts of Merant and which in any case is material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole;

 

(j) except as disclosed in the Annual Report and Accounts of Merant, or in Merant filings with the SEC, or as otherwise publicly announced by Merant (by the delivery of an announcement to a Regulatory Information Service) or as otherwise fairly disclosed to SERENA by or on behalf of Merant prior to the date of this announcement, SERENA not having discovered that any financial or business or other information concerning the Wider Merant Group disclosed at any time by or on behalf of any member of the Wider Merant Group, to any member of the SERENA Group, whether publicly or otherwise, is materially misleading or contains any material misrepresentation of fact or omits to state a fact necessary to make any information contained therein not misleading and which was not subsequently corrected before the date of this announcement by disclosure either publicly or otherwise to SERENA to an extent which in any case is material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole;

 

(k) since 30 April 2003 and except as disclosed in the Annual Report and Accounts of Merant, or in Merant filings with the SEC, or as otherwise publicly announced by Merant (by the delivery of an announcement to a Regulatory Information Service) or as otherwise fairly disclosed to SERENA by or on behalf of Merant prior to the date of this announcement, being the last practicable date before the Offer was first announced:

 

  (i) any past or present member of the Wider Merant Group has not complied with any applicable legislation or regulations of any relevant jurisdiction with regard to the use, treatment, handling, storage, transport, release, disposal, discharge, spillage, leak or emission of any waste or hazardous substance or any substance likely to impair the environment or harm human health, or otherwise relating to environmental matters or the health and safety of any person, or that there has otherwise been any such use, treatment, handling, storage, transport, release, disposal, discharge, spillage, leak or emission (whether or not this constituted a non-compliance by any person with any legislation or regulations and wherever the same may have taken place) which, in any case, would be reasonably likely to give rise to any liability (whether actual or contingent) or cost on the part of any member of the Wider Merant Group which in any case is material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole;

 

  (ii) there is, or is reasonably likely to be, any liability, whether actual or contingent, or requirement to improve or install new plant or equipment or to make good, repair, reinstate or clean up any property now or previously owned, occupied or made use of by any past or present member of the Wider Merant Group or any other property or any controlled waters under any environmental legislation, regulation, notice, circular, order or other lawful requirement of any relevant authority or third party or otherwise which in any case is material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole; or

 

  (iii) circumstances exist whereby a person or class of persons would be reasonably likely to have a claim in respect of any product or process of manufacture or materials used therein now or previously manufactured, sold or carried out (including without limitation with respect to ownership or infringement of intellectual property) by any past or present member of the Wider Merant Group which is or would be material in the context of the Wider Merant Group taken as a whole.

 

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For the purpose of these conditions:

 

(a) “Third Party” means any government, government department or governmental, quasi-governmental, supranational, statutory, regulatory, administrative or investigative body, authority (including any national antitrust, competition or merger control authorities or similar authorities), court, trade agency, association, institution or professional or environmental body in any relevant and applicable jurisdiction;

 

(b) a Third Party shall be regarded as having “intervened” if it has decided to take, institute, implement or threaten any action, proceeding, suit, investigation, enquiry or reference or made, proposed or enacted any statute, regulation, decision or order or taken any measures or other steps or required any action to be taken or information to be provided or otherwise having done anything and “intervene” shall be construed accordingly;

 

(c) “Authorisations” means authorisations, orders, recognitions, determinations, certificates, consents, permissions, licenses, clearances, and approvals other than those the need for which has been fairly disclosed prior to the date of this announcement;

 

(d) “Wider Merant Group” means the Merant Group and associated undertakings and any other body corporate, partnership joint venture or person in which the Merant Group and such undertakings (aggregating their interests) have an interest of more than 20 per cent. of the voting or equity capital or the equivalent.

 

Subject to the requirements of the Panel, SERENA reserves the right to waive all or any of the above conditions, in whole or in part, except condition (a).

 

The Offer will lapse unless the conditions have been determined by SERENA to have been and to remain satisfied, fulfilled or (if capable of waiver) waived by 3:00 pm (London time), 10:00 am (New York City time), on the final closing date of the Offer in accordance with the City Code or with the consent of the Panel and subject to any requirements of the laws of the United States.

 

The Acceptance Condition shall be capable of being satisfied or being treated as satisfied only at the time when all of the other conditions shall have been either satisfied, fulfilled or (to the extent permitted) waived unless SERENA, with the consent of the Panel, shall otherwise decide. The Offer is capable of becoming unconditional in all respects only on a closing date, unless SERENA in compliance with US securities laws otherwise decides. Following the delivery by SERENA to the US Depositary of a notice of acceptance in respect of Merant ADSs tendered pursuant to a letter of transmittal, SERENA shall be deemed to have acquired or agreed to acquire the tendered Merant ADSs and the Merant Shares represented by such Merant ADSs.

 

SERENA shall be under no obligation to waive or treat as satisfied any of conditions (a) to (k) inclusive by a date earlier than the latest date for its satisfaction notwithstanding that any other condition of the Offer may on or before such date have been waived or fulfilled and/or that there are no circumstances indicating that any such conditions may not be capable of fulfillment, provided that SERENA will waive the Conditions set out in paragraphs (c), (d) (iii) and (e) to and including (k) above not later than the fifth business day after the later of (i) the twentieth business day after the date the Offer is commenced and (ii) the date of satisfaction (or to the extent permitted, waiver by SERENA in its sole discretion) of the last of the conditions set forth in paragraphs (a), (b), (d) (i) and (ii) to be satisfied, unless in each case SERENA has, on or prior to 5:00 pm, California time, on such fifth business day, notified Merant in writing of its intention to invoke any such Condition.

 

SERENA reserves the right, subject to the consent of the Panel, to extend the time allowed under the rules of the City Code for satisfaction of the Acceptance Condition and accordingly for the satisfaction,

 

29


fulfillment or, where permitted, waiver of other conditions, and thus, to extend the duration of the initial offer period.

 

If SERENA is required by the Panel to make an offer for Merant Securities under the provisions of Rule 9 of the City Code, SERENA may make such alterations to the conditions, including the Acceptance Condition, as are necessary to comply with the provisions of that Rule.

 

The Offer will lapse (unless otherwise agreed by the Panel) if the acquisition of Merant is referred to Competition Commission before the first closing date of the Offer, or the date on which the Offer becomes or is declared unconditional as to acceptances, whichever is the later.

 

If the Offer lapses it will cease to be capable of further acceptance. Merant Securityholders who have accepted the Offer and SERENA shall then cease to be bound by acceptances delivered on or before the date on which the Offer lapses.

 

The Panel wishes to draw the attention of member firms of Nasdaq to certain UK dealing disclosure requirements following this announcement, which commences an Offer Period in accordance with the Code. The Code is published and administered by the Panel. An Offer Period is deemed to commence at the time when an announcement is made of a proposed or possible offer, with or without terms. Merant has equity securities traded on the London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. SERENA has equity securities traded on Nasdaq.

 

The disclosure requirements referred to above are set out in more detail in Rule 8 of the Code. In particular Rule 8.3 requires public disclosure of dealings during the Offer Period by persons who own or control or pursuant to an agreement or understanding (whether formal or informal), or who would as a result of any transaction own or control, 1 per cent. or more of any class of relevant securities of Merant and/or SERENA. Relevant securities include Merant Securities, SERENA Shares and instruments convertible into either Merant Securities or SERENA Shares. In the case of the Offer for Merant, this requirement will apply until the end of the Offer Period.

 

Disclosure should be made on an appropriate form no later than 12 noon London time on the business day following the date of the dealing transaction. These disclosures should be sent to a Regulatory Information Service in the UK and to the Panel (fax number: +44 (0)20 7638 1554).

 

The Panel requests that member firms advise those of their clients who wish to deal in the relevant securities of Merant or SERENA, whether in New York or in the UK, that they may be affected by these requirements. If there is any doubt as to their application, the Panel should be consulted (telephone number: +44 (0)20 7638 0129, fax number: +44 (0)20 7638 1554).

 

2. Certain further terms of the Offer

 

SERENA and Merant have agreed that in certain circumstances they may, prior to posting the Offer Document, choose to implement the acquisition of the Merant Securities by way of a scheme of arrangement under section 425 of the Companies Act. In such event, the scheme of arrangement will be implemented on the same terms (subject to appropriate amendments), so far as applicable, as those that would apply to the Offer. In particular, condition (a) will not apply and the scheme of arrangement will become effective and binding following:

 

(a) the approval by a majority in number of the holders of Merant Securities present and voting at the court meeting (or any adjournment thereof), either in person or by proxy, representing not less than three-fourths in value of the Merant Securities held by such holders;

 

30


(b) the resolution required to approve and implement the scheme and set out in the notice of extraordinary general meeting of the Merant Securityholders being passed by the requisite majority at such extraordinary general meeting; and

 

(c) the sanction of the scheme and confirmation of any reduction of capital involved therein by the Court (in both cases with or without modifications, on terms reasonably acceptable to SERENA) and an office copy of the order of the Court sanctioning the scheme and confirming the cancellation of share capital (if any) which forms part of it being delivered for registration to the Registrar of Companies in England and Wales and being registered by him.

 

Merant Securities will be acquired by SERENA fully paid up and free from all liens, equities, charges, encumbrances and other third party rights and/or interests and together with all rights now or hereafter attaching thereto, including the right to receive and retain all dividends, interest and other distributions declared, made or payable after the date of this announcement.

 

The Offer will be on the terms and will be subject, inter alia, to the Conditions which are set out in part 1 of this Appendix and those terms which will be set out in the Offer Document and such further terms as may be required to comply with the Listing Rules of the UK Listing Authority, the provisions of the Code and applicable requirements of US federal and state securities law and the applicable rules of Nasdaq. The Offer and any acceptances thereunder will be governed by English law.

 

The availability of the Offer to persons not resident in the United Kingdom or the United States may be affected by the laws of the relevant jurisdictions. Persons who are not resident in the United Kingdom or the United States should inform themselves about and observe any applicable requirements.

 

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APPENDIX II

SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND BASES OF CALCULATION

 

(i) The value placed by the Offer on the entire issued share capital of Merant reflects the agreement between the parties and is based on:

 

  105,516,545 Merant Shares in issue on 2 March 2004 (as sourced from Merant);

 

  the price per SERENA Share of US$21.78, which is calculated as the average Closing Price of SERENA Shares as reported on Nasdaq for the twenty United States trading days ended 1 March 2004; and

 

  an exchange rate of US$1.8488 : £1.00, which is calculated as the average daily exchange rate for the five trading days ended 3 March 2004.

 

(ii) Merant has outstanding options to subscribe for 16,443,389 Merant Shares currently exercisable or exercisable as a consequence of the Offer, excluding options over issued Merant Shares granted by Merant’s employee benefit trusts, on 2 March 2004 (as sourced from Merant).

 

(iii) The Closing Price of a Merant Share is derived from SEDOL on the dates stated.

 

(iv) The financial information relating to Merant is extracted from the Annual Report and Accounts of Merant and third quarter results as announced on 3 March 2004.

 

(v) The entire issued share capital of SERENA is based on 38,352,090 SERENA Shares in issue on 2 March 2004 (as sourced from SERENA).

 

(vi) SERENA has vested and unvested options outstanding in respect of 4,980,959 SERENA Shares on 2 March 2004 (as sourced from SERENA).

 

(vii) The Closing Price of a SERENA Share is as reported on Nasdaq on the dates stated.

 

(viii) The financial information relating to SERENA is extracted from its unaudited results statement as announced on 19 February 2004.

 

(ix) The daily US$ : £1.00 exchange rate is derived from the noon buying rate in New York City for cable transfers in pounds sterling as certified for customs purposes by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

 

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APPENDIX III

DEFINITIONS

 

The following definitions apply throughout this document unless the context requires otherwise:

 

“Acceptance Condition”    the acceptance condition in paragraph 1 (a) of Appendix I
“Acceptance Form(s)”    the Form of Acceptance and, with respect to Merant ADSs only, the Letter of Transmittal and the Notice of Guaranteed Delivery
“ADS”    an American Depository Share
“Annual Report and Accounts of Merant”    the annual report and accounts of Merant for the financial year ended 30 April 2003
“Australia”    the Commonwealth of Australia, its states, territories and possessions and all areas subject to its jurisdiction or any subdivision thereof
“Canada”    Canada, its provinces and territories and all areas subject to its jurisdiction or any subdivision thereof
“City Code” or “Code”    The City Code on Takeovers and Mergers of the UK
“Closing Price”    the closing middle market quotation of a Merant Share as derived from the SEDOL or the last reported sale price of a SERENA Share as reported on Nasdaq as the case may be
“Companies Act”    the Companies Act 1985, as amended
“Conditions”    the conditions of the Offer set out in Appendix I of this announcement and “Condition” means any one of them
“Exchange Act”    The US Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder
“Form of Acceptance”    the form of acceptance relating to the Offer for use by holders of Merant Shares
“HSR Act”    the United States Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 as amended
“Japan”    means Japan, its possessions and territories and all areas subject to its jurisdiction or any subdivision thereof
“Lehman Brothers”    Lehman Brothers Europe Limited, financial adviser to SERENA
“Letter of Transmittal”    the letter of transmittal relating to the Offer for use by holders of Merant ADSs
“London Stock Exchange”    London Stock Exchange plc

 

33


“Merant”    Merant plc
“Merant ADRs”    American Depository Receipts evidencing interests in Merant ADSs
“Merant ADSs”    American Depository Shares of Merant, each representing 5 Merant Shares
“Merant Board”    the board of directors of Merant

“Merant Directors” or

“Directors of Merant”

   the directors of Merant at the date of this announcement
“Merant Group”    Merant and its subsidiary undertakings
“Merant Securities”    Merant Shares and Merant ADSs
“Merant Securityholders”    holders of Merant Securities
“Merant Shareholders”    holders of Merant Shares
“Merant Shares”    ordinary shares of 2 pence each in the capital of Merant
“Merant Share Schemes”    the Intersolv. Inc. amended and restated 1992 stock option plan, options granted under the Micro Focus Group Plc Employee Benefit Trust 1994, the 1996 Micro Focus Share Option Plan, the Micro Focus Group Inland Revenue Approved Share Option Scheme, the Intersolv, Inc. 1997 Employee Stock Option Plan, the Merant Plc Inland Revenue (1998) Approved Share Option Scheme, the 1998 Merant Share Option Plan, the Merant Plc 1999 Employee Share Purchase Plan and options granted under the Merant Plc Employee Benefit Trust 2003 including pursuant to the 2003 Merant Share Incentive Plan
“Nasdaq”    The National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation system
“Notice of Guaranteed Delivery”    the notice of guaranteed delivery relating to the Offer for use by holders of Merant ADSs
“Offer”    the recommended cash and share offer to be made by SERENA and Lehman Brothers on its behalf (outside of the United States) to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Merant not held by SERENA, including (as appropriate) the offer to holders of Merant ADSs in respect of the Merant Shares underlying such ADSs, on the terms and subject to the Conditions to be set out in the Offer Document and including, where the context so requires, any subsequent revision, variation, extension or renewal of, or election available under, such Offer
“Offer Document”    the document to be despatched to Merant Shareholders and, for information only, to participants in the Merant Share Schemes which will set out the terms and Conditions of the Offer

 

34


“Official List”    the Official List of the UK Listing Authority
“Offer Period”    the period commencing with this announcement and ending on whichever of the following dates shall be the latest (i) the first closing date of the Offer; (ii) the date on which the Offer lapses; and (iii) the date on which the Offer becomes or is declared unconditional as to acceptances
“Panel”    the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers, the body which regulates takeover offers in the UK
“Registration Statement”    the registration statement on Form S-4 relating to the SERENA Shares to be offered as consideration pursuant to the Offer
“Regulatory Information Service”    any regulatory information service listed in schedule 12 of the Listing Rules of the UK Listing Authority
“SERENA”    SERENA Software Inc.
“SERENA Directors” or “Directors of SERENA”    the directors of SERENA at the date of this announcement
“SERENA Group”    SERENA and its subsidiaries and subsidiary undertakings
“SERENA Shareholders”    the holders of SERENA Shares
“SERENA Shares”    ordinary shares of $0.001 each in the capital of SERENA
“SEC”    The Securities and Exchange Commission in the US
“SEDOL”    The Stock Exchange Daily Official List published by the London Stock Exchange
“Treaty on European Union”    means the Treaty of Rome of 25 March 1957, as amended by the Single European Act 1986 and the Maastricht Treaty (which was signed at Maastricht on 7 February 1992 and came into force on 1 November 1993)
“UBS” or “UBS Investment Bank”    UBS Limited
“UK” or “United Kingdom”    the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
“UK Listing Authority”    the Financial Services Authority acting in its capacity as the competent authority for the purposes of Part IV of the Financial Services Act and in the exercise of its functions in respect of admission to the Official List

 

35


“US Depositary”    The US depositary to be specified in the Offer Document
“United States”, “US” or “USA”    the United States of America, its territories and possessions, any state of the United States of America and the District of Columbia or any area subject to its jurisdiction or any political subdivision thereof
“US Dollar”, “US$” or “$” or “cents” or “c”    the lawful currency of the United States
“£” or “pounds sterling” or “pence” or “p”    the lawful currency of the United Kingdom

 

For the purposes of this announcement “subsidiary”, “subsidiary undertaking”, “associated undertaking” and “undertaking” have the meanings given by the Companies Act, other than paragraph 20(1)(b) of Schedule 4A to the Companies Act which shall be excluded for this purpose.

 

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Exhibit B

 

All provisions of this Exhibit B are subject to change if Serena determines after the date of the Press Announcement that any information provided by or on behalf or Merant prior to the date of the Press Announcement to Serena with respect to the Option Schemes, the EBT Plans or the options or awards outstanding thereunder is materially incorrect or misleading (including without limitation with respect to numbers of shares subject to options, vesting and acceleration schedules and exercise price information).

 

Non-EBT Option Plans and the Employee Stock Purchase Plan

 

1. No cash cancellation will be offered by Serena – save as described in paragraph 2 below.

 

2. In the case of employees resident in jurisdictions outside the US and the UK where, due to restrictions under applicable local law or regulations, either rollover as contemplated by paragraph 3 below is not practicable without disproportionate expense for Serena or exercise of vested options and acceptance of the Offer is not allowed, then Serena will offer to such optionholders cash cancellation of their options (whereby the option holder would be paid, in cash, the difference between the offer price of £1.95 and the exercise price for each option held), if and to the extent permitted by applicable law or regulation or such alternative arrangements as may be approved by Merant (such consent not to be unreasonably withheld or delayed) and the Panel.

 

3. The rule 15 offer to optionholders will take the form of an invitation to optionholders (both vested and unvested) to rollover into options over Serena shares on terms which reflect the value of the Offer. To the extent permitted by applicable laws, regulations and the Code and provided that to do so does not confer material additional value to the relevant option holders over and above their existing entitlements:

 

3.1 this value shall be calculated on the same basis as the mix and match arrangements under the Offer (ie the number of Merant shares subject to an option will be multiplied by 0.16553 to give the number of Serena shares subject to the rolled over option and the exercise price per Merant share under the original option will be divided by 0.16553 and multiplied by 1.8488 to give the exercise price in US Dollars per Serena share under the rolled over option) and

 

3.2 the terms of the rolled over option will mirror those of the original option.

 

4. Merant and Serena agree that optionholders whose options are already vested or which vest on a change of control (at such time as the Offer is declared unconditional) should be alerted to their ability to exercise the options and accept the Offer while it is open. Such communication will be sent to them by Merant in a form approved by Serena (such approval not to be unreasonably withheld or delayed).

 

5. Merant and Serena agree that optionholders whose options vest only after the Offer has become or been declared wholly unconditional should be offered a facility to accept the Offer in time to participate in the mix and match election. The mechanics of this facility must be approved by Serena (such approval not to be unreasonably withheld or delayed) and will be

 

37


notified to Optionholders by Merant as soon as practicable after posting of the formal Offer documentation.

 

6. Merant and Serena agree, subject as provided in paragraph 8 below, to give effect to optionholders’ pre-existing contractual rights to exercise their options on a cashless basis so that

 

6.1 the option holder will give an undertaking to pay the exercise price in cash when he exercises the option and consent to the arrangements described in 6.2 and 6.3 below;

 

6.2 Serena will pay the total cash consideration proceeds due to the optionholder to Merant on the date that cash consideration is due to that option holder under the terms of the Offer; and

 

6.3 Merant will deduct the exercise price to satisfy the undertaking described in 6.1 above, will deduct any tax and social security contributions required to be withheld under applicable law and then forward the balance to the option holder.

 

7. Merant and Serena will work together to provide a cashless exercise facility identical to that described in paragraph 6 to option holders who do not have a pre-existing contractual right to do so. For these optionholders if the Inland Revenue require it and provided that the maximum period of such loan is not greater than 21 days then Serena will pay the aggregate exercise price to Merant on the effective date of exercise of the options as an interest free loan to the optionholder which is repayable out of and deductible by Serena from the sale proceeds (using cash first) due to the optionholder under the Offer. Serena’s commitment to provide such an arrangement shall be subject to the approval of the Inland Revenue (if such consent is required) and subject to paragraph 8.

 

8. Nothing in either paragraph 6 or 7 shall allow Merant or commit Serena to put in place or cooperate with any arrangement which is in contravention of any applicable law or regulation or which would create any disproportionate expense or liability for any member of either the Merant Group or the Serena Group. Absent a change in the applicable laws and regulations or release of new guidance or interpretations, Serena agrees that it will not refuse to cooperate with the cashless exercise mechanism described in paragraphs 6 and 7 above on grounds that the mechanism described is in some manner prohibited by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

 

9 In accordance with the terms of the Employee Stock Purchase Plan, Serena will assume the obligation to satisfy outstanding participation rights by the issue of an appropriate number of Serena shares. The trustees of the 1994 EBT will be asked to use the Serena shares they receive under the Offer to satisfy these participation rights to the maximum extent that they can on the basis described below under the heading EBT Options but Serena will provide the trustee of the EBT with any confirmation regarding Serena’s assumption of the obligations under the Plan and the availability of Serena shares as may be reasonably required by such trustee.

 

10. Merant and Serena will cooperate with each other in preparing letters to be dispatched to all option holders as soon as possible after the Offer document has been circulated to Merant shareholders but in any event before the Offer becomes or is declared unconditional in all respects, informing them of the arrangements proposed to be implemented for their options and (to the extent applicable) supplying them with documents for use in connection with the

 

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facility described in paragraph 5 above and /or the cashless exercise mechanism referred to in paragraphs 6 and 7 above. All documentation must be approved by both Serena and Merant (such consent not to be unreasonably withheld or delayed.)

 

EBT Options

 

All shares held by the EBTs will be accepted into the Offer by the Trustees including those Merant shares currently reserved in connection with the Employee Stock Purchase Plan. .

 

The Trustees will be asked by Merant

 

1. to give an irrevocable undertaking to accept the Offer for all the shares within each of the EBTs;

 

2. to arrange cash cancellation on terms which they deem appropriate for all of the options within the EBTs whereby the option holder would be paid, in cash, the difference between the offer price of £1.95 and the exercise price for each option held

 

3. as they will hold a significant number of Serena shares as a result of accepting the offer, to consult with Serena’s broker when they wish to sell the Serena shares in order to ensure an orderly market;

 

4. not to distribute any of the funds to the underlying beneficiaries without making all deductions required at law in respect of PAYE and employee national insurance;

 

5. to take steps to repay the EBT loans once they have cleared off all outstanding EBT and 2003 Plan options subject to receiving demand for such repayment;

 

6. to use Serena shares received under the Offer remaining after compliance with the preceding steps (and payment of trust expenses) or after making due allowance for such compliance and payment to satisfy the participation rights under the Employee Stock Purchase Plan in June 2004 to the maximum extent possible;

 

7. to commit to use any surplus assets remaining after compliance with the preceding steps (and payment of trust expenses) or after making due allowance for such compliance and payment to provide incentive and retention payments for Merant employees continuing within the newly enlarged group after closing, taking into account the recommendations made by the newly enlarged group.

 

 

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Exhibit C

 

(a)   (i) approval of the Scheme by a majority in number, representing 75 per cent. or more in value present and voting, either in person or by proxy, at the Court Meeting, or at any adjournment of the Court Meeting;

 

  (ii) the resolution(s) required to approve and implement the Scheme being duly passed by the requisite majority at the Extraordinary General Meeting, or at any adjournment of the Extraordinary General Meeting;

 

  (iii) sanction (with or without modifications, on terms reasonably acceptable to Serena) of the Scheme and confirmation of the reduction of capital involved (if any) therein by the Court and an office copy of the order of the Court sanctioning the Scheme and confirming the reduction of capital involved in the Scheme being delivered for registration to the Registrar of Companies in England and Wales and being registered by him;

 

(b) the approval for listing on the Nasdaq, subject to official notice of issuance, of the new Serena Shares

 

 

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EX-8 10 dex8.htm TRUSTEES IRREVOCABLE UNDERTAKING Trustees Irrevocable Undertaking

EXHIBIT 8

 

TRUSTEES IRREVOCABLE UNDERTAKING

 

Serena Software, Inc.

2755 Campus Drive

3rd Floor

San Mateo

California 94403

USA

 

Lehman Brothers Europe Limited

25 Bank Street

London E14 5LE

UK

 

3 March, 2004

 

Dear Sirs,

 

Proposed Recommended Offer for Merant plc (the “Offeree”)

 

Offer

 

We refer to the press announcement proposed to be released by Lehman Brothers Europe Limited (“LBE”) on behalf of Serena Software, Inc. (the “Offeror”) in the form attached to this undertaking (as such announcement may be amended with the agreement of UBS Limited, the Offeree’s financial advisers) (the “Press Announcement”), setting out the terms and conditions upon which LBE will on behalf of the Offeror outside the United States, and the Offeror will on its own behalf in the United States, make an offer (the “Offer”) to acquire the whole of the issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of the Offeree (including ordinary shares represented by American Depository Shares).

 

Undertakings

 

In connection with the Offeror agreeing to make the Offer substantially on the terms and subject to the conditions referred to in the Press Announcement, together with such additional terms and conditions as may be required to comply with the requirements of The City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the “City Code”) and any other terms and conditions agreed between the Offeror and the Offeree (provided that the value of the overall consideration and cash consideration receivable by us under the Offer is no lower than the value of the consideration referred to as being payable in the attached draft of the Press Announcement) we hereby irrevocably undertake and warrant to the Offeror as follows:

 

1. We are the current trustees of the Merant 1994 Employee Benefit Trust (“the 1994 Trust”) constituted by a Trust Deed dated 10 June 1994 made by the Offeree (under its then name of Micro Focus Group PLC) and us. We are also the current trustees of the Merant Employee Benefit Trust 2003 (“the 2003 Trust”) constituted by a Trust Deed

 


     dated 27 February 2003 made by the Offeree and us. The numbers of ordinary shares of £0.02 each in the capital of the Offeree specified in the schedule to this undertaking (the “Shares”) are held by the companies identified as the registered holders in the schedule to this undertaking on behalf of us in our capacity as the trustees of the 1994 Trust and the 2003 Trust respectively (as identified in the schedule to this undertaking). We have no other interest in the shares of the Offeree. Subject only to the terms of the 1994 Trust and/or the 2003 Trust and the subsisting options over the number of Shares set out in the schedule to this undertaking all of the Shares are held by us free from any charge, option, lien, equity, restriction or encumbrance whatsoever and we have and will, upon the Offer being made, continue to have full authority to accept or procure the acceptance of the Offer in respect of the Shares.

 

2. We will no later than the fifteenth business day after the despatch of the document containing the terms and conditions of the Offer (the “Offer Document”) accept or procure acceptance of the Offer in respect of all of the Shares in accordance with the acceptance procedure set out in that document and will forward, together with our acceptance, the share certificate(s) or other documents of title in respect of the Shares and any requisite evidence of authority to make such an acceptance and/or transfer the Shares to an escrow balance, specifying the person identified in the terms and conditions of the Offer Document (in its capacity as a CREST participant) as the escrow agent;

 

3. Unless and until the Offer lapses or is withdrawn, we will not, and will procure that no other person shall:

 

  (a) sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of any of the Shares to any person other than the Offeror or grant any option or create any encumbrance over all or any of the Shares or any interest therein or enter into any agreement or arrangement which might restrict a disposal to Offeror;

 

  (b) accept, or directly or indirectly solicit, any other offer in respect of all or any of the Shares, whether conditionally or unconditionally (by whatever means the same is to be implemented) nor enter into any negotiations to such effect;

 

  (c) withdraw, or procure the withdrawal of, our acceptance in respect of all or any of the Shares, notwithstanding that we may have become entitled to withdraw it by virtue of the City Code (or any provision in the Offer Document to that effect);

 

  (d) acquire any further rights over shares in the Offeree; or

 

  (e) exercise or permit the exercise of the voting rights attaching to the Shares in any manner which is likely to frustrate the Offer or prevent it becoming or being declared unconditional in all respects.

 

4. We will maintain appropriate secrecy about the possibility and details of the Offer prior to its announcement.

 

5. We will procure that such information relating to us as is reasonably requested by the Offeror or its advisers and which is required to be contained in the Offer Document in

 

2


     order to comply with the City Code, any applicable law or the requirements of any relevant regulatory authority is supplied promptly to the Offeror.

 

Consent

 

We consent to the issue of the Press Announcement in the terms attached or amended as specified above. We understand that in accordance with the City Code, particulars of this undertaking will be contained in the Offer Document and also that a copy of this undertaking will be available for inspection during the period in which the Offer is open for acceptance.

 

Lapse

 

This undertaking will lapse if the Offer lapses or is withdrawn or if the Press Announcement is not released on or prior to 5 March, 2004 or if the Offer Document is not despatched to the shareholders of the Offeree within 28 days of the date of the Press Announcement or such later date as the Panel may agree. If this undertaking so lapses, we shall have no further obligations under it and no liability shall arise under it except in respect of any antecedent breach of its terms.

 

Higher Offer

 

Nothing in this undertaking shall prevent us from accepting an offer made by any third party for all of the issued ordinary share capital of the Offeree (other than any such share capital already held or contracted to be acquired by such third party at the time of making such offer, including any shares permitted to be treated as already held or contracted to be acquired by such third party for purposes of Part XIIIA of the Companies Act 1985) provided that either (i) such offer is recommended for acceptance by the board of the Offeree and a period of seven days has elapsed from the announcement of such third party offer without the Offeror having revised the terms of the Offer so that the value of the revised Offer exceeds the value of the offer by such third party or (ii) such offer is declared unconditional in all respects. In the event that we become entitled to accept another offer pursuant to this paragraph then this undertaking will lapse and we shall have no further obligations and no liability shall arise under it except in respect of any antecedent breach of its terms.

 

Independent Advice

 

We confirm that we have been given a realistic opportunity to consider whether or not to give the commitments contained in this undertaking and to obtain independent advice about the nature of this undertaking.

 

We confirm that in relation to this undertaking we are not a customer of LBE, for the purposes of the Conduct of Business Sourcebook of the Financial Services Authority, that LBE will not be offering us advice and that LBE will not otherwise be responsible for providing customer protections in respect of the transactions and arrangements proposed in the Press Announcement.

 

Definitions

 

The term “Offer” in this undertaking includes:

 

  (a) any offer which may be made by or on behalf of Offeror for the whole of the share capital of the Offeree in issue at the date on which the offer is made

 

 

3


     which is not already owned or agreed to be acquired by Offeror and any additional Offeree shares allotted while the Offer remains open for acceptance or until such earlier date as the Offeror may determine; and

 

(b) any revised or increased offer which may be made by or on behalf of Offeror, provided that the terms of such offer are no less favourable than the terms set out in the Press Announcement.

 

General

 

Time shall be of the essence as regards any time, date or period mentioned in this undertaking or extended by mutual agreement.

 

This undertaking shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law and we hereby submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts and appoint Macfarlanes of 10 Norwich Street, London EC4A 1BD as our agent for service of any proceedings in connection with this undertaking.

 

IN WITNESS of which this document has been executed as a deed and is delivered on the date first above written

 

SIGNED as a DEED by

MERANT TRUSTEES

   )
)
       

/s/    [Signature Illegible]


Director

LIMITED acting by

a director and its secretary or two directors

   )
)
)
       

 

/s/    [Signature Illegible]


Director/Secretary

 

 

4


SCHEDULE 1

 

The Shares

 


    Name and registered address     of Registered Holder   Trust   Number of Shares         Number of Shares under option    

   

Merant Trustees Limited

PO Box 621

Le Gallais Chambers

54 Bath Street

St Helier, Jersey JE4 8YD

 

1994 Trust

 

3,515,488

 

 

2,687,500

(plus 417,129 allocated to the Employee Share Purchase Plan)


     
   

Roy Nominees Account

22607

Royal Bank of Canada

Trust Corporation Ltd

71 Queen Victoria Street

London EC4V 4DE

 

1994 Trust

 

900,000

 

   

   

Roy Nominees Account

22607

Royal Bank of Canada

Trust Corporation Ltd

71 Queen Victoria Street

London EC4V 4DE

 

2003 Trust

 

3,000,000

 

 

2,887,160


 

5

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