Whoa - Where are all these deals coming from?

                             Quick Analysis of Recent Deals

Workstream - According to http://humancapitalist.com/?p=522 , Workstream may be acquired by a UK firm. Vital Analysis recently reviewed Workstream and a copy of their report is available at: http://vitalanalysis.com/va_blog/?p=18 . Venture backed companies are always looking for a liquidity event for their portfolio firms. If Workstream weren't in play, I'd be surprised. Let's hope they get a good multiple. My assessment: Workstream's talent management solution would be a solid fit for many potential acquirers.

CODA/Agresso - These two firms are in currently in talks. See: http://www.unit4agresso.com/subpage.aspx?l1=310&l2=312&subaction=details&newsid=1893&from=homepage . I like both of these firms. CODA has recently upgraded their product line and TechVentive, Inc. (prior to the Vital Analysis re-branding) also developed a report on their Neon line. See: http://softwaresafari.typepad.com/software_safari_premium_b/2007/09/new-report-on-c.html .  This deal could be very beneficial to Agresso in North America given the customer base there and access to additional sales professionals in this market. I like this deal.

Cyborg - Hewitt Associates is selling off its Cyborg HR software line to a private equity firm (see: http://www.hewittassociates.com/Intl/NA/en-US/AboutHewitt/Newsroom/PressReleaseDetail.aspx?cid=4691).  Vista Equity Partners is the buyer. Cyborg was acquired by Hewitt in 2003. Personally, I watched Cyborg for a long time as they are a Chicago based outfit. Deal terms are still unknown at this time. Vista Equity Partners has made a number of software and IP investments (e.g., Reynolds and Reynolds) (see: http://www.vistaequitypartners.com/Companies.html). It's premature to predict how this will do long-term. I'm pretty sure Hewitt will continue to use the Cyborg solution in its BPO offerings. Vista Equity Partners may need to make other acquisitions to make a more complete enterprise offering. Let's watch this space.

SUN/MySQL - Everyone's talking this one up. I like it not just because it's a big open source monetization deal. I like it as MySQL shows up more and more as an alternative to Oracle's DBMS in a lot of big ERP solutions. SUN will likely get continuing upside on this one.

Oracle/BEA - I've been expecting this one for like years. It's finely here. Not an interesting deal just expensive. Let's hope it's really accretive.

Comments

[Charles]

Fair enough, the Sun/MySQL deal may increase MySQL's options in the ERP market but I fear that the move will more likely see reduced investment in Linux MySQL and a push for just Solaris - bad news for the rest of us :-)