Surprisingly Little Information on Lavasoft Acquisition

It certainly appears as though the acquisition of Lavasoft AB by Lulu Software is being buried under a rug.  Although I first learned about the acquisition over a month ago, it actually occurred in January.

According to the announcement by Mannheimer Swartling, Solaria Fund acquires software business from Lavasoft:

"Solaria Fund acquires software business from Lavasoft (2011-01-18)

Solaria Fund has acquired the anti-spyware and antivirus software business from Lavasoft.

Lavasoft AB, a privately-held company headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, is one of the leading actors in the anti-spyware and antivirus segment.

Solaria Fund was advised by Mannheimer Swartling in the acquisition. The firm’s team was led by Johan Ljungberg, primarily assisted by Emma Olnäs Fors and Teresia Mårdh."

Adding to the confusion is the notice buried at the end of the BusinessWeek description of Lavasoft is the additional information:

"As of January 18, 2011, Lavasoft AB operates as a subsidiary of Lulu Software."

Similarly, the BusinessWeek entry for Lulu Software merely indicates "Merger/Acquisition, Lavasoft AB, January 18, 2011".

From what I can ascertain, Lulu Software and Solaria Fund are, if not one and the same, are closely held, with ties to Upclick.com.

• Eric Gareau, CEO at Lulu Software (located in Montreal, Canada)


• Michael Dadoun, Principal at Solaria Fund (located in Montreal, Canada) and Co-Founder at Upclick.com (also Montreal, Canada)


• Calin Udrea, Marketing Director at Lavasoft, formerly Director of Marketing at UpClick

What is most interesting in this change is that there has not been a Lavasoft Press Release.  In fact, it has been rather quiet in Lava-Land with only one press report to date in 2011 and only a half-dozen blog posts to date in 2011. 

Could the silence be related to the less than stellar Web of Trust ratings of Lulu Software's Fixio PC Cleaner Software?

• WOT Lulu Software Scorecard: lulusoftware.com


• WOT Fixio PC Cleaner Scorecard: fixio-pc-cleaner.en.softonic.com

Since it has been well over six years since I used Ad-Aware, perhaps others have also switched to a different anti-malware software program.  Even the Support Forum is woefully quiet, with the current online list showing 0 members logged on to the Forums. 

Baseless speculation aside, the question remains:  Why all the silence about the acquisition?

Remember - "A day without laughter is a day wasted."
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