The transaction - which SunGard says will boost its US institutional presence and transaction initiation business - is expected to close by 31 May, 2001. The purchase price is up to $165 million in cash with no assumption of debt.

The transaction remains subject to higher and better offers for Bridge under competitive bidding procedures to be lodged by the company with the US Bankruptcy Court in St. Louis shortly. At the same time, Bridge says it will submit a "363" motion to obtain approval of the sale to SunGard, subject to receipt of other bids.

Bridge says that other parties have expressed an interest, including for other businesses such as Telerate, Bridge Commodity News, Bridge's non-US operations and sundry other assets including holdings in Savvis Communications and BridgeDFS.

Bridge says that it will continue to solicit and evaluate proposals for these assets. In the meantime, it will continue operating the businesses that are not part of the SunGard proposal under Chapter 11 with a view to their sale.

James Mann, SunGard's chairman and chief executive officer, comments: "Acquisitions are an important part of SunGard's business model, and our practice is to look to acquire only where there is a strategic fit and when a deal is not dilutive. Most of Bridge's subsidiaries have operated independently in distinct market segments, and we have chosen to acquire separately only those businesses that we believe can be profitably integrated with SunGard's existing initiatives."

David Roscoe, Bridge president, says: "By combining Bridge's strong institutional desktop presence and trading-related activities and services with SunGard's full suite of software, trading and services throughout the institutional trading cycle, we would have an integrated suite of end-to-end services second to none."

SunGard believes the acquisition would put it in a leading position in the buy-side to sell-side transaction routing business. The Bridge Institutional Order Entry (IOE) system has a broad institutional presence, with over 300 buy-side customers. Combined with SunGard's sell-side footprint with Brass and marketing relationship with Advent Software, with respect to buy-side portfolio managers, this presence is expected to position SunGard to compete aggressively in the marketplace for transaction services.

Mann says the deal provides an opportunity to increase SunGard's footprint in the front office, particularly with respect to transaction initiation. "We expect Bridge's information and order-routing services to considerably extend the reach of the SunGard Transaction Network, SunGard's e-business network connecting our buy-side and sell-side clients," he says. "The success of the network depends on critical mass and order flow, and Bridge offers both."

The SunGard Transaction Network currently connects more than 700 banks, 1000 money managers, 35 million 401K participants, 1500 insurance companies, and 180 brokers.

In addition, SunGard expects the acquisition to generate synergies with the recently announced SunGard portal for high-net worth individuals and SunGard PowerStation, an integrated broker/dealer workstation.

Mann concludes: "With over $400 million in cash, no long term debt and cash flow twice net income, SunGard has the financial strength, client base and operational ability to realise the value in Bridge's assets. Our strategy is to enable the financial services industry to achieve straight-through processing by automating the information flows between the buy-side and sell-side."