IBM Corp.’s proposed acquisition of Cognos Inc. has received approval from the Canadian Minister of Industry under the Investment Canada Act.
In relation to this Act, the Armonk, New York-based company made several commitments to the Ministry in relation to Cognos’ operations and employees in Canada, highlighting the benefit of the buy to Canada.
Specifically, the commitments include access to IBM’s global reach, technology portfolio, partner network and customer base. The idea is this will grow the sale of Cognos’ products, employment, the main centre of R&D, funding of R&D, and ensuring senior managers are Canadian or locally-based.
IBM announced its intent to acquire the Ottawa-based business intelligence vendor earlier this year. The US$5 million deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.