Business News
Software AG announces tender offer for IDS Scheer
Tuesday 14. July 2009 - Software AG (TecDAX, ISIN DE 0003304002 / SOW) today signed a contract with Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. August-Wilhelm Scheer and Prof. Dr. Alexander Pocsay relating to the sale of a total of approx. 47.68 percent of the outstanding shares (this corresponds to 15,332,622 shares) of IDS Scheer AG (TecDAX, ISIN DE 0006257009 / IDS).
The sale of shares will be part of a voluntary public tender offer by SAG Beteiligungs GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Software AG, starting in the current quarter. Software AG will offer EUR15 in cash per outstanding share of IDS Scheer capital. The offer will be made on and subject to the terms and conditions yet to be communicated in the offer document and in particular, it is likely to be made subject to clearance by the competent merger control authorities. Founder Prof. Scheer and co-founder Prof. Pocsay have already undertaken to accept the offer for all shares in IDS Scheer AG held by them.
The transaction will create a global vendor of infrastructure software and Business Process Management with more than 6,000 employees and more than EUR1 billion in sales. Software AG´s strengths, technology leadership in middleware products, financial strength and global presence, will be supplemented by IDS Scheer’s skills in the analysis and mapping of business processes, the strong partner network and the large service presence in their approx. 7,500 customers. IDS Scheer offers deep industry expertise in vertical industries, direct access to vertical markets and a strong position in the SAP consulting business.
The combination of both leading technologically and complementary product portfolios for the digitization and implementation of business processes will be unique and will give Software AG a sustainable and strengthened competitive position in a consolidating software market.
The joint strategy is clearly growth-oriented. The growth drivers will be increased sales of the combined product offering and the specialist expertise of IDS Scheer’s consultancy business. This consulting expertise is of use for the customer-specific implementation of Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) and BPM / BPA solutions, particularly in SAP environments. The combination of the two successful business models is expected to be accretive to Software AG´s operating earnings per share already in the first full fiscal year of consolidation (2010).