Lawson, Intentia Extend Merger Deadline to April 30

Published: January 3, 2006

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Back in June of 2005, Lawson Software, one of the oldest OS/400-related ERP software providers in the market and one of the few midrange suppliers that made the transition to Unix and Windows without severely hurting itself, decided to acquire Intentia International, another long-time OS/400 vendor that had branched out from RPG to embrace Java as it became a dominant player in the European ERP software market. With the ERP software space consolidating like crazy, midrange players like Lawson and Intentia, which hails from Sweden, who hope not to be crowded out by other and also merging players, do not have much of a choice but to acquire or be acquired. And that is why Lawson ponied up $480 million to buy Intentia and its way into the European market as well as into industry sectors where it does not play as strongly.

Having agreed to merge, getting all of the Intentia shareholders to tender their shares to Lawson and in favor of the deal is not necessarily easy. Lawson and Intentia had expected to close the merger by January 31 of this year, but have jointly decided to extend the merger offering until April 30 to give Intentia shareholders more time to give the thumb's up to the deal. As originally conceived, the deal required Lawson to issue around 81 million shares to Intentia shareholders, leaving Lawson with just under 57 percent of the combined company.