SAP on Wednesday said it plans to acquire Sybase in a $5.8 billion deal that will create a software giant able to bring one of the widest ranges of business software to customers across mobile and other enterprise platforms.
SAP, Walldorf, Germany, is acquiring Sybase through its SAP America subsidiary in the deal, worth about $65 per share, which is about a 44 percent premium compared to Sybase’s three-month average stock price.
SAP is the world’s fourth largest software vendor, after Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle.
The company is one of the world’s largest business software vendors, with product lines including CRM, ERP, product lifecycle management, supply chain management, supplier relationship management, and other solutions.
Gartner recently ranked SAP as the world’s largest vendor of business intelligence, analytics, and performance management software, far outpacing rivals Oracle, SAS Institute, and IBM.
Sybase is one of the world's top database vendors, and also has industry-leading technology for delivering software to customers on any platform, ranging from desktops to mobile devices. The company's "Unwired Enterprise" strategy allows business-critical information to be securely moved back and forth from the data center to the end device.
SAP on Wednesday said the acquisition of Sybase will allow the company to accelerate the ability to take its solutions across mobile platforms and drive increased user adoption of SAP’s software.
Together, SAP, Sybase, and their combined customer base will be able to use Sybase’s messaging network to reach 4 billion mobile subscribers through over 850 operating relationships worldwide, SAP said.
For Sybase, the acquisition will mean a big market expansion for its complex event processing and analytics expertise from its current financial customer base to other industries currently working with SAP. SAP also said its technology will expand the transactional and analytical capabilities of Sybase’s database technology while continuing to support other leading database vendors.
SAP plans for Sybase to operate as a standalone unit.
SAP rival Oracle has sued SAP in the past, and in 2007 was rumored to be interested in acquiring SAP. Both companies have built their businesses in large part via acquisition of vendors specializing in different aspects of the software market.
