Infor Buys Developer of Windows-Based ERP for Governments

Published: May 23, 2007

by Alex Woodie

Infor, the third largest ERP software vendor in the world by revenue, last week announced plans to acquire Hansen Information Technologies, a provider of Windows-based ERP solutions for local government and municipalities.

Over the years, Infor has amassed a huge installed base by acquiring ERP vendors that have found their top-line revenue starting to stall. By scooping up MAPICS, SSA, Baan, Geac, Infinium, Lilly, PRMS, PKMS, and countless other formerly independent firms, the Atlanta, Georgia, company has quietly assembled the largest customer base in the enterprise application space--more than 70,000 customers--and sneaked into third place behind ERP juggernauts SAP and Oracle with revenues of about $2.1 billion (according to the vendor; it's private and doesn't disclose detailed financial statements).

Now, the company has struck again with the planned acquisition of Hansen, a Rancho Cordova, California, company with 470 customers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the U.K. Hansen employs 350 people and is owned by Gold Gate Capital, the San Francisco private equity firm that has funded Infor's acquisition spree over the past few years.

Hansen sells an integrated suite of products that automate many tasks regularly performed by public entities and municipalities, including running dispatch and call centers, meter reading and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) solutions, stormwater and wastewater management, parks and street management, tax assessments and billing, code enforcement and permitting, and many other aspects. Its latest Hansen 8 suite was developed using Microsoft's .NET programming tools and features a thin-client Web interface.

When the deal is done, Infor says it will have a full range of solutions for local governments and municipalities of all sizes, including human capital management, revenue management, and enterprise asset management to municipalities.

The acquisition of Hansen continues a long-running shift away from OS/400- and i5/OS-based ERP solutions for manufacturers and distributors that have long used the IBM System i and toward Windows and .NET products that apply to a range of industries. However, Infor says the Hansen products will interoperate with Infor's existing products through its service oriented architecture (SOA) program, called "Infor Open SOA." The company is expected to fully explain Infor Open SOA later this year at its annual user conference.

Jim Schaper, chairman and CEO of Infor, explained the decision to buy Hansen. "Infor's strategy is to address markets where customers want solutions with functionality and expertise specific to their needs, rather than the generic products of the large horizontal software providers," he says. "Hansen provides software that is built for the unique needs of state and local government. Following the close of this transaction, Infor will provide a complete offering of government-specific solutions from a vendor that has the size and scale to be a long-term strategic partner."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Infor did not say when it expects the deal to close.

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