Mergers & acquisitions.

Key recent Colorado mergers and acquisitions

DELTA PETROLEUM/CASTLE ENERGY

Denver-based Delta Petroleum Corp. has agreed to buy Pennsylvania-based Castle Energy Corp. in a stock swap that amounts to about $160 million. Castle Energy, King of Prussia, Pa., holds approximately

LEVEL 3/INFOCROSSING

Level 3 Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: LVLT) has sold (i)Structure LLC, its Broomfield based IT infrastructure-management outsourcing subsidiary, to Infocrossing inc., a New Jersey rival, for $84.8 million, including $82.3 million in cash and $2.5 million in Infocrossing stock (Nasdaq: IFOX). (i)Structure generated $35 million in operating income in the first six months of 2005, Level 3 said in a statement, but tech-trade website NetworkWorld reported that Charles Miller III, chairman of Level 3's Information Services Group, said the (i)Structure unit was not considered a core business for Level 3, and the parent, also based in Broomfield, is currently engaged in a sell-off of its non-core businesses. (i)Structure employs 300 people and has operations in Omaha, Neb., and Tempe, Ariz., NetworkWorld reported. Infocrossing had about 550 employees before the purchase, which was to close in the fourth quarter.

RENTECH/ROYSTER-CLARK

Rentech Inc. (Amex: RTK), a Denver company that makes and licenses technology to convert coal and natural gas into liquid fuels and other chemicals, has obtained a commitment for $35 million in financing from M.A.G. Capital LLC and Pentagon Brenini Fund Ltd. to help fund Rentech's $50 million acquisition of Royster-Clark Nitrogen Inc. Royster-Clark owns and operates a 830-ton-per-day, natural gas-fed nitrogen fertilizer plant in East Dubuque, Ill., and Rentech plans to convert the plant to coal-fed gasification using Illinois coal. Rentech also plans to build a coal-to-liquids demonstration plant in Commerce City that will produce roughly 10 to 20 barrels per day of ultra-clean diesel fuel, aviation fuel and naptha from various demonstration coals. The $35 million is contingent on closing the purchase of Royster-Clark. M.A.G. Capital is a Los Angeles-based private equity fund; Pantagon Brenini is an offshore firm associated with M.A.G.

REQUISITE/CLICK COMMERCE

Requisite Technology Inc., a once-booming catalog software company in Westminster, was sold to rival Click Commerce Inc., Chicago, for $1 million in cash and 800,000 in Click Commerce (Nasdaq: CKCM) shares, ending another chapter in Colorado's heady high-tech buildup before the 2001 national recession. Requisite produced software that was able to collect product information from across a large number of industries that was used for procurement purposes by large companies around the world, some of which used the Requisite product in their own marketing and distribution systems. Requisite was one of the state's fast-growing high tech companies, employing upwards of 600 people before the tech bubble burst and its workforce was reduced to less than 100. The value of Click Commerce shares last month put the total sale price at about $20 million.

MERCHANT GOULD/WELSH KATZ

Merchant & Gould, a Denver intellectual-property law firm founded in Minnesota, is merging with Chicago-based Welsh & Katz to form one of the largest firms in the nation to specifically focus on intellectual-property law. The new firm, Merchant Gould Welsh & Katz, will have more than 160 attorneys practicing from offices in Atlanta, Denver, Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle and Washington D.C. Clients range from individual inventors to Fortune 500 companies.

WILSON DOWNING/GRIMSLEY WHITE

Wilson Downing & Associates, a metro-Denver accounting firm, and Grimsley White & Co., Pueblo, will merge effective Jan. 1, and be known as the Wilson Downing Group LLC.

JONES INTERNATIONAL/NCTI

Jones International Academy, a subsidiary of Jones International Ltd., has acquired NCTI (Corporate Training Holdings Inc.) in a deal that combines what Jones calls the cable TV industry's two leading providers of post-secondary education. Both companies are based in metro Denver, NCTI in Littleton and Jones in Centennial. No terms of the purchase were disclosed. Tom Brooksher will remain president of NCTI, a 37-year-old company. KRG Capital Partners, a Denver-based private equity firm, brokered the deal.

LIBERTY MEDIA/PROVIDE COMMERCE

Colorado-based Liberty Media Corp. (NYSE: L) (NYSE: LMCB) has agreed to acquire Provide Commerce Inc., San Diego, (Nasdaq: PRVD); an e-commerce marketplace of websites for perishable goods. Under the terms of the agreement, Liberty will pay $477 million in cash, or $33.75 per Provide share. Jared Polis, vice chairman of the Colorado Board of Education and a tech millionaire in his own right, reportedly will make more than $143 million on the transaction since he owns about 30 percent of Provide Commerce.