Electronic-business software company BroadVision Inc. said on Wednesday it would acquire Interleaf Inc., which makes software that helps companies to create and publish content on the Internet, for about $852 million in stock.

Redwood City, Calif.-based BroadVision (BVSN.O), which publishes software that helps companies design and build their own Web sites, said the move would allow it to become more heavily into the business-to-business and wireless commerce arenas. BroadVision said the deal calls for each outstanding Interleaf share to be exchanged for 0.3465 of a share of BroadVision in a deal that will be accounted for as a purchase transaction. The deal represents about a 40 percent premium to Interleaf_s closing stock price as of Jan. 25. On a fully diluted basis, BroadVision will issue about 5.6 million shares of its common stock, originally valued at about $877 million, based on BroadVision_s closing stock price on Jan. 25. BroadVision stock fell 4-1/2 to 152-1/16 on Nasdaq Wednesday, while Interleaf gained 4-5/16 to 43-1/8. The deal was announced after the close of trading. BroadVision said the key to the acquisition was Waltham, Mass.-based Interleaf_s (LEAF.O) e-content co., which develops and sells content management software for the XML programming language. XML, an emerging standard for building Web sites, provides a flexible means of sharing data between software applications and computers platforms. The e-content co. accounts for nearly 70 percent of Interleaf_s employees, which number about , and has been the most significant area of Interleaf growth and investment over the past two years. Earlier on Wednesday in a separate release, market research firm GartnerGroup said business-to-business electronic commerce will show blistering growth in the coming years, with the worldwide market expected to expand to $7.29 trillion by 2004 -- more than 50 times larger than in 1999.