The deal gives Borland access to Visigenic's Object Request Broker technology, which helps send messages between applications. Borland officials said the deal would allow users to develop and manage software applications over new and legacy platforms, including Windows Unix, AS/400 and MVS. Borland officials said the deal would help put the company back on the growth track, a process begun when the company turned the financial corner earlier this year, breaking even in the June quarter and turning a $1.5 million profit in the September quarter. "Our acquisition of Visigenic represents the next step in our ongoing turnaround initiative," Borland CEO Del Yocam said in a release. "We recently reported our second quarter of profitability and have made significant progress toward meeting our turnaround goals. With the agreement to acquire Visigenic, we now embark on the next major phase of our turnaround, which is aimed at providing enhanced long-term strategic growth opportunities for our shareholders and employees." The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 1998. Both Borland and Visigenic's boards have approved the merger. Under the terms of the agreement, Visigenic stockholders will receive 0.81988 of a share of Borland stock for each outstanding share of Visigenic. About 12.5 million shares of Borland stock, which closed at $12 Monday, will be issued at the close of the transaction. Visigenic founder and CEO Roger Sippl, who also founded Informix Software Inc. and Vantive Software, will become Borland's chief technology officer. Rick LeFaivre, Borland's current CTO and vice president of research and development for Borland, will head research and development for the combined company. Borland also announced that it intends to maintain a development office at Visigenic's current headquarters in San Mateo, Calif.