Continuing its acquisition strategy, Infor Global Solutions yesterday said it has bought supply chain management software provider Mercia Software (Birmingham, U.K.) from Finmatica S.p.A., the Italian ERP vendor, which failed last year.
Infor, which has acquired 12 software companies over the past two-and-one-half years, said most of Mercia's 115 employees and its two principal products -- MerciaLincs Enterprise and MerciaLincs PC -- will form a new Infor Demand Planning Group. The group will be headed by Vice President and General Manager John Sookias, formerly head of Mercia's worldwide sales, marketing and professional services units. Infor said that most of Mercia's employees will remain with the group, although some may be cut as the company consolidates Mercia's U.K. and Atlanta offices with its own.
Infor declined to disclose the terms of the deal, which the company said is final. Finmatica, after coming under investigation for financial reporting improprieties last year, was unable to raise needed financing. The company announced plans to liquidate and sell off assets including Mercia, which Finmatica acquired in June 2002. In an interview, Cindy Cronin, Infor's Process Group vice president and general manager, said the company was one of several bidding for the Mercia unit.
Mercia claims about 250 customers, including divisions of General Motors, TRW, Smurfit-Stone and Johnson & Johnson.
Although Infor's strategy has been to acquire software companies focusing on specific vertical industries -- process, discrete and automotive manufacturing and wholesale distribution -- the Mercia products and the new Demand Planning Group will provide supply chain planning functionality horizontally to all customers of Infor's ERP suites, Cronin said.
Currently, Infor offers some demand planning and advanced scheduling functionality to process industry customers through software it acquired in the May 2002 purchase of SCT Corp. Cronin said Infor will "rationalize" the Mercia and Infor demand planning products with the expectation of offering a superset product that combines the best of both suites. Infor will, however, continue to support the existing Mercia products as long as customers continue to pay for maintenance, Cronin said.
Along with SSA Global, Infor has been among the most active acquirers of software companies over the past two years. It expects the pace of acquisitions to continue, said Cronin. "We still see plenty of opportunity out there," said Cronin. Specifically, Cronin said, Infor is interested in acquiring products in the trade funds management and product lifecycle management categories.