Wall Street Journal Articles Say Epicor Software No Longer for Sale

Epicor Software Corp., Austin, Texas, owner of the popular Eclipse distribution software package and legacy Prophet 21, Prelude and Trade Service System software, apparently is no longer on the selling block, according to an Aug. 15 report in the Wall Street Journal.

The article said Epicor’s owner, the Apax Partners venture capital firm, has “decided for now” to keep Epicor. The Wall Street Journal and Reuters both reported that CVC Capital Partners, a London-based private equity firm, had been interested in Epicor in a deal rumored to top $3 billion.

According to Epicor’s most recent 10Q filling, the company has $1.28 billion in total long-term debt. The Wall Street Journal report said this debt would have to be part of any acquisition. While Epicor had been running in the red during recent quarters, its most recent 10Q showed a $1.6 million profit for the period ending June 30, 2014, a big swing from the $11.59 million loss on the books for the period ending June 30, 2013.

Apax, which has offices in London, New York and other locations around the world, manages approximately $40 billion in funds and is a big player in the technology, telecommunications, retail, consumer, media, healthcare and financial and business service markets The company had merged Epicor with Activant Solutions Inc., Livermore, Calif., in April 2011 after purchasing the two firms for a combined sum of approximately $2 billion. According to a 2011 Electrical Marketing report, Apax acquired Epicor for about $810 million in a 2011 leveraged buyout and merged it with Activant, which it bought from other private-equity firms for about $890 million.

In its 2013 10K, Epicor reported $961.7 million in total revenues, with $268.2 million in sales from ERP systems and $333.6 million in revenues from the service of ERP systems.  Its total 2013 revenues from its Retail Solutions and Retail Distribution business units were $142.6 million, and $223.6 million, respectively. The company said in its 10K that it has more than 4,600 employees and customers in more than 150 countries.