World's largest computer-service provider, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) has agreed to buy Unica Corp for $480 million. This is being done so that IBM gets access to latest technology so that it is able to provide better marketing campaigns.

As per the deal, each Unica shareholder will get $21 per share in cash. This is more than double of the stock price of Unica.

Said Sam Palmisano, CEO of IBM that the company is planning to spend $20 billion on acquisitions in the next five years and the current takeover of Unica is a part of that long-term strategy.

The money, he said, will be generated by the most profitable units of IBM. They can get the money generated by 2015. Since 2003 there have been 60 acquisitions.

Unica, is into the business of making software for helping organizations in analyzing and predicting customer preferences. These then helps these to go for better marketing campaigns.

The company has currently 500 workers under it and has big customers like EBay Inc. and Best Buy Co. It has also helped out ING Group NV in customizing its marketing websites.