Under the agreed terms of the merger, which is expected to be completed by July 24, Atex shareholders, led by Kistefos -- the Norwegian investment group -- will control 55 percent of the shares in the newly merged company and Media Command's shareholders will control 45 percent.

The chief executive officer of Kistefos, Age Korsvold, will become the chairman of Atex Media Command, while Media Command's major shareholder, Robert Banner, will become the group's executive chairman.

Atex Media Command has appointed Atex Chief Operating Officer Nancy Faunce as director with responsibility for the Americas, Media Command President Bernard Grinberg as director for Asia Pacific and Media Command Chief Executive Officer Phil Lowe as director with transitional responsibility for Europe and Africa. Atex CFO Peter McGovern will become the chief financial officer of the new company.

Atex President and CEO Max Coebergh is leaving to, as the companies said in a release, "eventually pursue other interests."

The transaction will take the form of an issue of new Atex shares for Media Command shares. These shares will continue to be traded on the Norwegian over-the-counter stock market under the Atex Media Command name. The merger transaction is subject to the approval of both sets of shareholders which shall be solicited through extraordinary general meetings. The majority shareholders of both companies, Kistefos and Robert Banner via the Banner Trust, have pledged to vote in favor of the transaction.

The board of directors of Atex Media Command will be Korsvold, Banner, Faunce, Grinberg, Lowe, Ion Bogdaneris and Joost Tjaden.

Atex Media Solutions Inc. is the product of a variety of mergers and acquisitions made in the 1990s by the Norwegian software firm Sysdeco, which acquired Atex from a consortium lead by Danny Chapchal in 1995. Chapchal acquired the firm from Eastman Kodak Co. in 1992. Kodak bought the firm in 1981 from founders Douglas Drane and two brothers, Charles and Richard Ying. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Atex was the world's leading provider of newspaper publishing software.

Media Command was acquired from the Canadian software company Geac Computers last year by Banner. Geac had purchaseed companies that included the former Collier-Jackson (newspaper business software), the former Cybergraphic (editorial and advertising software), the former Matrix (circulation software) and the former Gazette Technologies (newspaper data warehousing software); the company is in the process of acquiring the media industry marketing analysis firm The Barry Group of Bethesda, Md.