Siebel deal caps tumultuous week for software industry
Siebel deal caps tumultuous week for software industry
CRM software provider Siebel Systems has capped what has been an incredible few days of activity in the software industry, with the acquisition of eBilling and customer self-service software provider edocs for US$115 million in cash.
News of the deal follows closely on from the Oracle's long awaited capture of PeopleSoft, and Symantec's merger with Veritas, which is the largest merger in the history of the software industry.
While not quite on the same scale as those two mega deals, Siebel's acquisition is a significant one, and is expected to expand Siebel's products and services offerings in the growing market for eBilling and customer self-service applications, a market estimated to be worth upwards of US$3 billion this year.
Through the acquisition, Siebel expects to deliver self-service software, as well as strengthen its offerings of multi-channel customer-facing solutions.
Under the terms of the deal, Siebel Systems will initially pay US$115 million in cash to edocs shareholders. Additional payments, based on achieving revenue and other contractual milestones, may be paid in 2006. Siebel expects the transaction to be approximately neutral to earnings for the remainder of 2005. The transaction is expected to close in early Q1 2005.
"Our acquisition of edocs will provide global organisations with powerful solutions that can dramatically increase the efficiency of their service and billing channels, reduce call centre costs and enhance customer satisfaction and retention," said J. Michael Lawrie, CEO, Siebel Systems. "This acquisition brings together a leading provider of eBilling and customer self-service solutions with a leading provider of customer service, call centre, and field service automation solutions, and is consistent with Siebel Systems' strategy to expand our front-office solutions. The complementary strengths of Siebel and edocs will help companies capitalise on the dramatic growth in the popularity of customer self-service interactions."
"We are delighted at the opportunity to join Siebel Systems, the market leader in CRM, and look forward to working together to take customer self-service to the next level," said Kevin Laracey, President and CEO, edocs. "Our shared focus on leveraging advanced technology platforms to provide customer value in key industries makes this acquisition an ideal fit. Combining our product lines allows us to rapidly bring to market critical functionality that can save companies millions of dollars in operating costs while allowing them to offer a highly differentiated customer experience that will attract new customers and strengthen existing relationships."
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