Infor-Lawson Deal May Be Close to Done

Infor may be about to announce an acquisition of Lawson Software, about six weeks after news of its US$1.8 billion offer for the ERP (enterprise resource planning) vendor came to light.

The company apparently posted and then pulled a press release announcing the deal, in which Lawson would be bought by GGC Software Holdings, an affiliate of Infor, and its private-equity-firm backer Golden Gate Capital.

While no longer available on Infor’s site, a cached copy of the release, which was dated Monday, can be found in Google’s search engine.

The deal is expected to close in the third calendar quarter of this year, according to the pulled release. No purchase price was given.

Spokesmen for the companies did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.

Private-equity-backed Infor, which has grown through a long string of acquisitions, has a reputation as more of a holding company than a vendor bent on developing unique software. The company has in recent months tried to change that image, announcing plans to hire 400 additional software developers and rolling out next-generation technology based on the Microsoft stack.

“Infor’s manufacturing, supply chain, product lifecycle, workforce, and asset management products will be combined with Lawson’s best-in-class enterprise financials and human resources products to improve business process flows and reduce integration costs via single sign-on, common look-and-feel and seamless navigation across composite applications deployed on-premise and in the cloud,” according to the cached press release.

But Infor may want to buy Lawson more for its strong presence in vertical markets like health care than its technology.

Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris’s e-mail address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com