Verity acquires Cardiff Software

Verity Inc. is buying Cardiff Software Inc. in a $50 million deal that brings Verity added capabilities in software for document capture, electronic forms and workflow-driven business processes.

Both companies have a strong government business with customers that include the departments of Defense, Justice and Energy, the Federal Aviation Administration and security-sensitive agencies, company officials said.

The deal is expected to close in 30 to 60 days.

Verity of Sunnyvale, Calif., is picking up Cardiff's products such as Teleform, LiquidCapture and LiquidOffice. Cardiff is based in Vista, Calif.

"With this acquisition, Verity has the opportunity to leverage its leadership in the search, classification and recommendation categories of intellectual capital management and extend it to content capture, e-forms and business process automation," said Anthony Bettencourt, Verity's president and chief executive officer.

Verity was represented by Thomas Weisel Partners in this transaction. RBC Capital Markets served as Cardiff's adviser.