Incubator turned software specialist divine has acquired content and search technology firm Northern Light. Financial terms of the all stock purchase were not disclosed.

The combination will allow divine "to offer information-rich solutions for portals, intranets, Web sites and extranets, helping our customers gain a competitive edge," said Andrew "Flip" Flipowski, divine's CEO.

The deal's centerpiece is Northern Light's Special Collection, an online library of 7,100 sources, including Forbes, Business Week, American Banker, Economist, New York Times, Investext database of equity analyst reports, and trade publications.

In addition, divine will use Northern Light technology as a "unified search" tool across its applications: content management, aggretagion , procurement, customer interaction, and collaboration.

"Not only do divine's existing technologies and solutions perfectly complement Northern Light, but its powerful distribution channel can bring the benefits of our integrated search and content technologies to a much wider audience around the world," said David Seuss, Northern Light's CEO.

Seuss and senior vice president of content development Robert Nelson will join divine in senior posts. Dr. Gregory Whitten, a Microsoft vet and primary investor in Northern Light, will serve as a technology advisor to divine.

The sale announcement comes less than a month after privately held Northern Light, of Cambridge, Mass., said it would discontinue its free Web searches to the masses, focusing instead on large companies and government organizations.

Chicago-based divine has been on a Bay State shopping spree in the last year, using its market capitalization to acquire complimentary businesses. In May it paid $19 million for RoweCom, of Westwood and four months later ponied up $43.2 million for Eprise, of Framingham.