The wedding date's been moved up by almost 30 days for Novell Inc. and WordPerfect Corp., with Borland International standing in as a bridesmaid.

The Provo-based network giant and the Orem software company, along with the California spreadsheet division, announced their plans March 21, expecting the $1.4 billion-dollar deal to be done by the end of July.The closing will take place early next week, Novell corporate communications spokeswoman Jessica Kersey said Wednesday.

WordPerfect becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Novell with the approval of the deal by the Federal Trade Commission. The merger makes Novell the third-largest computer software company in the world.

Both companies posted better earnings for the first 1994 fiscal quarter, with Novell reporting record revenues and a 3 percent increase in net income - $73 million for the quarter up from $71 million for the same period last year.

WordPerfect claimed sales of $700 million for 1993.

At the time of the announcement of acquisition, Novell's stock began to drop in a slide from $23 a share to just above $16 a share. The stock rallied when CEO Ray Noorda named his successor - Robert J. Frank-enberg, formerly the chief executive from Hewlett-Packard credited with turning around that company's personal computer division.

Industry watchers have expressed concern over Novell's "grabbing" power and Word-Perfect's "shudder" just before the acquisition news. WordPerfect laid off nearly 900 employees in a restructuring effort in January 1994.

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