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LonZim in deal to buy stake in software unit

Wed Apr 16, 2008 3:58am EDT

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JOHANNESBURG, April 16 (Reuters) - Investment group LonZim (LZM.L) said on Wednesday it had signed an option agreement to buy a 51 percent of ForgetMeNot Africa Ltd, a unit of ForgetMeNot (FMN) Software Ltd Hong Kong.

LonZim said it would pay $150,000 for the option, which will be used by FMN to install its message optimiser software at two large corporate customers in Zimbabwe. If this is successful, LonZim would have the option to buy the 51 percent stake in FMN Africa for another $400,000.

If LonZim, a unit of UK-based Lonrho (LONR.L), exercises the option, it would pay another $1 million to FMN by the end of the year for granting FMN Africa an exclusive royalty-free licence to use, distribute and sub-licence FMN's message optimiser software across Africa.

The message optimiser software enables messaging between text messages on mobile phones, email and instant messaging.

(Reporting by Gugulakhe Lourie; editing by Sue Thomas) ((gugu.lourie@reuters.com; +27 11 775 3162)

Keywords: Lonrho/LonZim


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