Private equity firm Apax Partners is buying Epicor and Activant in a deal that will create one of the world's largest ERP (enterprise resource planning) software vendors, the companies announced Monday.
Apax is to pay $US976 million for Epicor. Specific terms of the offer for privately held Activant were not disclosed, but Apax said the combined deal was worth about $2 billion. The deal is expected to close in this quarter.
Once combined, Activant and Epicor will have 30,000 customers and $825 million in revenue, according to a statement. The new company will be named Epicor Software Corp., but won't be publicly traded.
The pending merger is "extremely positive for Epicor's customers, employees and shareholders alike," Epicor CEO George Klaus said in a statement.
Shareholders controlling about 32 per cent of Epicor's shares have indicated support for the deal, according to a statement.
Epicor is known for its focus on ERP software for manufacturers, while Activant has products for retailers and wholesale distributors.
News of the deal comes just weeks after another major ERP acquisition attempt. Last month, Infor made a roughly $1.8 billion bid for Lawson Software, which so far hasn't publicly accepted the offer. Observers have speculated that other ERP vendors, such as Oracle, may submit counteroffers for Lawson.
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