SSA Global Technologies, fresh off acquiring Enterprise Resource Planning software maker Baan, and earlier this year two other e-business software companies, is now acquiring WMS/Supply Chain Execution vendor EXE. SSA Global Technologieswhich is based in Chicago, said it will pay about $7 per share for EXE in a deal valued at approximately $47 million. SSA paid about $135 million in July of 2003 for Baan.
The acquisition is the latest in a summer of software consolidations that has featured numerous M & A deals, including the now infamous PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards merger and Oracle sideshow. The SSA/EXE deal is expected to close in about 100 days, the companies said. EXE is based in Dallas and will become a wholly owned subsidiary of SSA Global Technologies. One of the backers of SSA, General Atlantic Partners LLC, already owned a partial stake in EXE. SSA officials said the acquisition of EXE is designed to help it in the current business environment where many companies have already invested in ERP, and want to improve their supply chain operations in the areas of warehouse management and collaboration.
