Lawson Software has agreed to be purchased by an Infor affiliate GGC Software Holdings for roughly $US2 billion, the company announced Tuesday.
The deal will create one of the industry's largest ERP (enterprise resource planning) software vendors after SAP and Oracle, and is expected to close in the third calendar quarter of this year.
The announcement comes about six weeks after Infor first made an unsolicited offerfor Lawson, which is known for its strong presence in verticals such as health care.
While many observers expected counteroffers from the likes of Oracle to emerge, none did publicly.
However, in a statement Tuesday, Lawson said it had "conducted a comprehensive market assessment and contacted other potential acquirers including competing global providers of enterprise applications and financial buyers, a process that did not result in a superior proposal."
"We are pleased to have entered into a transaction that will offer Lawson stockholders an attractive valuation," Lawson CEO Harry Debes said in a statement.
GGC Software Holdings is linked to Infor and its private equity firm backer Golden Gate Capital. Privately held Infor, which has grown through a long series of acquisitions, has reported revenue in the neighborhood of $2 billion. Lawson reported revenues of $736.4 million in its 2010 fiscal year.
Infor last year appointed former Oracle president Charles Phillips as CEO. Phillips is credited with playing a key role in Oracle's many purchases of software vendors.
"Lawson is a natural strategic partner for Infor, offering complementary software solutions that will extend our existing portfolio, particularly in areas such as health care, public sector, manufacturing and human capital management," Phillips said in a statement.
Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris's e-mail address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com