Invensys takes dip with bid for Baan
22 Aug 2000
Control and automation conglomerate Invensys last month made a cash offer of f762million (£468million) for the ailing Dutch software house Baan. If the agreed takeover goes through, Baan will become part of a new Software and Systems division of Invensys, which will concentrate on the company's `sensor-to-boardroom' approach to enterprise-wide automation.
Invensys chief executive, Allen Yurko, expects Baan to break even within a year, after so far sustaining losses for nearly two years. Although Invensys has no plans to break up Baan's operations, which are primarily in the ERP area dominated by German rival SAP, cost savings will be sought with the loss of 1000 jobs over the next two years.
Because of the scale of Baan's debts, Invensys shares shed 13 per cent on the stock market at the news, but elsewhere the move was generally welcomed. One of Baan's biggest customers, Boeing, was said by Yurko to be `very supportive of the deal'. Industry analyst Dan Roberts of Cambashi sees it as `a good fit for Invensys. Baan's strengths were always in the discrete manufacturing sector, so the acquisition is complementary to Invensys' previous take-over of the process specific Marcam.'
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