VeriSign has announced plans to acquire GeoTrust, its largest SSL certificate rival, for approximately $125m in cash. The deal, announced on Wednesday, is expected to close in the second half of this year, subject to regulatory approval.

Acquiring GeoTrust, in addition to the 1999 acquisition of Thawte Consulting, would leave VeriSign with only one significant rival (the much smaller firm Comodo) in the market to supply digital credentials that secure web transactions. In a statement, VeriSign said its definitive agreement to buy GeoTrust would compliment its direct-sales SSL presence with a well developed reseller channel of more than 900 resellers (many of which are web hosting companies) in 140 countries.

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