GGC Software Holdings, Inc., an affiliate of distribution enterprise resource planning (ERP) software provider Infor and Golden Gate Capital, announced an agreement to acquire Lawson Software, St. Paul, Minn. In a release, Infor and GGC said the combined suite of Infor and Lawson "will create a unique set of industry-specific applications serving more than 75,000 customers and a global leader in verticals such as manufacturing, health care, distribution, public sector, and hospitality."
The deal has been in the works for awhile, but the announcement follows news earlier this month that rival distribution software provider Activant was being rolled together with Epicor by private equity Apax Partners.
"Infor and Lawson will create a rich, integrated enterprise application suite. After the transaction closes, we plan to integrate many of the applications as soon after closing as possible, facilitated by a standards-based approach and the fact that both companies' applications are already service-enabled. We also plan to innovate and change how customers deploy, use, and upgrade enterprise applications. We have a long list of ideas to improve the customer experience and deliver value through a singular focus on enterprise applications, accelerated investment, and a strong incentive to challenge convention," said Charles Phillips, CEO of Infor.
Infor's manufacturing, supply chain, product lifecycle, workforce and asset management products will be combined with Lawson's 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," said the Infor release.