*France’s SAFRAN made an unsolicited $300 million cash offer for Digimarc Corp. [DMRC], besting L-1 Identity Solution’s [ID] $263 million cash and stock offer for the leader in the U.S. drivers’ license credentialing market. However, SAFRAN’s offer hasn’t been agreed to by Digimarc and is still subject to due diligence. L-1’s deal for Digimarc received federal approval earlier this month while SAFRAN’s potential deal would have a higher hurdle to clear in having to go through a Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. clearance. Stanford Group analyst Jeremy Grant doesn’t believe a CFIUS review would be a showstopper but does think L-1 will have to boost its offer by $1 to $2 per share. In the end, he believes L-1 wins a bidding war. For its part, L-1 says that if Digimarc’s board declares SAFRAN proposal to be superior, which it hasn’t yet, then L-1 will have five days to submit a new offer. L-1 is also playing the national security card, with its Chief Robert LaPenta saying that the U.S. government “with the anticipated implementation of the REAL ID initiative, will not prefer to place U.S. citizens’ personal information and the issuance of their credentials in the hands of a company outside of our national borders, particularly one that is more than 30% owned and controlled by the French government.” SAFRAN, which has identified the secure identity document sector as an attractive growth market, believes the acquisition pairs well with its biometric and smart card capabilities that are part of its Sagem Securite division.
*The Transportation Security Administration released a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) inviting firms to express their interest, provide information, and demonstrate their capability to provide smart card biometric readers under the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) reader pilot program Initial Capability Evaluation (ICE). Once the pilot effort is completed TSA will issue final regulations that require the deployment of card readers that are consistent with the findings of the pilot program. TSA is also using the BAA to let industry know how it plans to move from a research and development phase in the reader program to providing a standardized assessment process for approving readers when the final TWIC reader rule is in place. In addition to the ICE evaluation, laboratory tests to assess conformance of a limited number of readers to the technical and environmental requirements of the TWIC specification will be done and a standard will be developed to assess reader compliance with the final TWIC specification for the final TWIC reader rule. Sol. No. BAA_TWIC_READER_06202008: Respond by July 21. Contact: Michelle Schmidt, 571-227-1584, [email protected].