Filling a gap in the midmarket enterprise resource planning software development market, Epicor Software Corp. announced Friday a merger with European-based Scala Business Solutions.
Epicor, of Irvine, Calif. expects to pay about $87 million for the Amsterdam, Netherlands, company—a deal that amounts to $41.7 million in cash plus 4.1 million shares of Epicors common stock, officials said.
While Epicors board of directors has approved the transaction, Scalas board will meet in the near future to decide the transaction. The deal is expected to close the first quarter of 2004.
The merger—combined with Epicors June acquisition of ROI Systems—will create the largest independent midmarket ERP provider based on Microsoft Corp.s .Net platform with 20,000 customers.
The new company will look to expand its presence worldwide by offering a broad suite of ERP, CRM (customer relationship management) and SCM (supply chain management) offerings.
Scala will bring a customer base predominantly in Scandinavia, Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, and China, while Epicors customer base is primarily in North America, Australia and the United Kingdom.