Mergers & acquisitions

,br>Private equity investment firm Veritas Capital Fund LP of New York will buy Pearson Government Solutions Inc. for $600 million in a cash and stock deal.The companies expect to close the transaction in early 2007, after which Veritas will rename the Arlington, Va.-based Pearson Government Solutions.Pearson designs, builds and operates solutions for the U.S. federal, state and local and international governments, higher education institutions and student financial aid organizations.Computer Sciences Corp. will buy the women-owned Datatrac Information Services Inc., Richardson, Texas. Terms were not disclosed.The acquisition extends CSC's identity management and credentialing capabilities, strengthening the company's position to compete for homeland security work.Datatrac will function as an operating segment of CSC's enforcement, security and intelligence division.IBM Corp. will buy Consul Risk Management Inc., Delft, Netherlands, and Herndon, Va. Terms were not disclosed.The buy brings IBM key data governance and compliance monitoring, auditing and reporting capabilities across mainframe and distributed computing environments.After the acquisition closes, likely in the first quarter 2007, IBM plans to roll Consul into its Tivoli software unit.Following completion of Alcatel's purchase of Lucent Technologies Inc. of Murray Hill, N.J., Alcatel-Lucent this month began operating as a new company.Alcatel-Lucent will design, build and manage complex networks delivering converged services and communications.