R "Ray" Wang
R "Ray" WangQuick Take: Infor and Golden Gate Gain Definitive Agreement To Acquire Lawson For $2B
New Firm To Focus On Verticals And Growth Markets
Golden Gate Capital and Infor entered an agreement to acquire Lawson at $11.25 per share. The transaction is valued at $2B. Following the 7am ET press release, a conversation with Charles Phillips and Duncan Angove highlighted key elements of the deal:
- Focus on growth. Infor sees an opportunity to cross-sell products from both companies into the existing 75,000 customer install base. Lawson's HCM product line and Infor's new release of Sun Systems Financials will provide the back office engine that was missing as independent companies. The firm expects two-tier financials to be a growth opportunity.
- Commitment to vertical differentiation. Infor's trengths in distribution, manufacturing, and hospitality will complement Lawson's core in healthcare, financials, equipment service rental, and public sector. Charles and Duncan both provided compelling examples of how products from both companies could be used to solve industry problems such as nursing shortage and asset management in healthcare. Time and attendance, planning, scheduling, and analytics would come together to solve a difficult customer problem.
- Investment in integration. The combined firm intends to focus on bringing applications together through integration. Initial thoughts are to achive a common customer experience. The engineering teams will begin with aligning ION to Lawson Process Platform. The goals - ensure that the common user experience layers are delivered adn bringing together common integration points.
More to come later in the day.
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Does this announcement surprise you? Are you a Lawson customer? What do you think of an Infor takeover? What do you hope Lawson will do? Add your comments to the blog or reach me via email: R (at) ConstellationRG (dot) com or R (at) SoftwareInsider (dot) com.
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Related Resources
20110314 A Software Insider's Point of View - R "Ray" Wang "News Analysis: Infor Extends $1.84B Unsolicited Offer For Lawson"
20101025 A Software Insider's Point Of View - R "Ray" Wang - "News Analysis: Charles Phillips Takes Over As CEO Of Infor"
20100422 A Software Insider's Point of View - R " Ray" Wang - "News Analysis: Lawson Puts Its Full ERP Suite Into The Cloud"
20090425 A Software Insider’s Point of View – R “Ray” Wang ” Event Report: Lawson Cue09″
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Related Links
20110311 IDC News Service - Chris Kanaracus "Infor Makes Unsolicited $1.84B Bid For ERP Vendor Lawson"
20110314 Managing Automation - Chris Chiapinelli "ERP Shakeup: Infor Bids 1.8B To Acquire Lawson"
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