Infor buys MAPICS; SAP acquires TomorrowNow
Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 3/1/2005 12:00:00 AM
The consolidation of ERP vendors continues, as Infor Global Solutionsended January 2005 by announcing its intent to acquire MAPICS. The all-cash deal is expected to put more than $300 million in the pockets of MAPICS shareholders.
While Infor and MAPICS both target medium-size manufacturers, executives with both companies contend there is very little overlap in their product portfolios or customer bases. MAPICS CEO Dick Cook says the ongoing industry consolidation made it necessary for MAPICS to "create" a larger company to ensure continued success of our customers.
"While our original strategy was to grow through acquisition," he adds, "the opportunity to be part of a much larger company, while rewarding our shareholders, presented an attractive alternative."
Infor has been executing an aggressive growth-through-acquisition strategy resulting in the purchase of 10 midtier ERP vendors over the past two years. CEO Jim Schaper says the company is acquiring companies in select vertical industries with the ultimate goal of assembling a product portfolio that competes with top ERP vendors Oracle and SAP.
Among Infor's acquisitions are SCT Corp., which targets process-oriented manufacturers; Brain, an automotive industry specialist; and Lilly Software, which has presence in the aerospace & defense, medical device, and metal fabrication markets.
At an early February meeting with nearly 60 customers, MAPICS ran a videotaped question-and-answer (Q&A) session in which Schaper and Cook vowed this merger would not mirror the acrimonious battle that ensued when Oracle decided to acquire PeopleSoft, which left some PeopleSoft users nervous about the new owner's commitment to their software platforms.
That customer uncertainty also prompted the January announcement that SAP would acquire TomorrowNow, a third-party provider of maintenance and support for PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards (JDE) applications.
SAP is offering maintenance and software support for PeopleSoft and JDE solutions through TomorrowNow, initially focusing on support for joint SAP customers. But Bill McDermott, president & CEO of SAP America, says SAP also is gearing up a "safe passage" program for companies that want to move completely off PeopleSoft or JDE software and onto SAP.
In his Q&A, Schaper assured MAPICS customers, "We will never order a forced march to another platform. You can expect the same level of support for all existing platforms that you have been getting from MAPICS."
