In what must hold some sort of record as the most excruciatingly long buy-out in history, Lionbridge (LIOX) finally announced that it acquired the language services assets of Bowne & Co. (BNE). Lionbridge’s purchase of Bowne Global Solutions (BGS) is the latest acquisition re-shaping the language industry. Since Lionbridge’s shelf registration of US$130 million in February, observers have speculated on where the company would put its cash and equity (see “Lionbridge: Sowing the Seeds of Growth”, Feb03). Bowne concurrently shopped its language services unit.
The deal was closed for US$180 million, which translates into a valuation for BGS of 0.8 times 2004 revenues. The cash part of the deal is equivalent to 0.58 times 2004 revenues, in line with our comments in the Ranking of the Top 15 Translation Companies report published last week.

Common Sense Advisory will publish a more detailed report on the topic for its subscribers later today — and will update the list of Top 15 companies.