Ascential Buys Data-Cleansing Software Maker

Informix spin-off Ascential Software Inc. last week said it's buying privately held data-cleansing software vendor Vality Technology Inc. for about $92 million in cash. The deal, slated to close in April, would let Ascential (ASCL-Nasdaq) expand its tool suite for building data warehouses. Ascential's previous owner, Informix Software, spun it off last year when IBM bought Informix. That left Ascential with about $800 million in cash. In December, Ascential acquired Torrent Systems, a developer of parallel-processing data-warehouse software, for $46 million. Analysts say customer-service efforts are creating a demand for tools that make companies' data more consistent. Vality expects sales of $25 million this year.