There doesn't look like there has been much change in the exhibitor's and sponsor's lists for next month's Sage Summit user conference, with one major exception. And that exception is that Sage got IBM as its premier sponsor. This is a good catch for the show, for the drawing power of the IBM  name even if maybe somebody had to cut a price deal to get the company in corrale (I have no idea if that happened).

Paris Technologies, the Doylestown, Pa.-based vendor of PowerOlap, says it's going to fill the gap left when Microsoft suspended development of its PerformancePoint Suite. Paris plans to do that with a partnership with XLCubed, which makes Excel-based reporting and analysis tools for Microsoft Analysis Services.

Deltek is preparing a $200 million offering via a combination of securities, according to documents filed this month with the SEC. The company did not spell out any planned use of the proceeds, which it said would be given in a prospectus. The offering will  include common and preferred stock, debt securities and warrants.

Deltek is also registering indeterminate number of subscription rights that enable the holder to buy any of the securities that might be issued under this filing. During the summer,  Deltek completed an offering of subscription rights exercisable for up to 20 million shares. Shareholders received one subscription right for each common share owned with each right entitling them to purchase .4522 shares at a price equal to $3 per share. Whatever the mechanism, Deltek's major shareholder, New Mountain Investments, acquired just over 15.5 million shares this year through the exercise of options at $3 per share. Those purchases cost New Mountain just over $46.7 million a share. Since the stock was trading at $7.51 per share yesterday, an investor could make some money off such a purchase.

There's got to be more going on with Intuit's announcement that will nominate David H. Batchelder to its board of directors to replace former CEO Stephen Bennett, who chose not to stand for re-election. The press release was a simple announcement, but the documents filed with the SEC show it wasn't that simple. Batchelder is a principal with Relational Investors, an investment firm which does not show up on public documents as a major shareholder in Intuit.