3Q Holdings to Buy IPMS for $16 Million

November 6, 2007 Alex Woodie

The Australian software company 3Q Holdings Limited will purchase the Island Pacific Merchandising System, an ERP-type application used by multi-channel retailers that runs exclusively under i5/OS, Island Pacific announced last week.

As we reported two weeks ago, Island Pacific was close to announcing the name of the company that had agreed to buy IPMS for $16 million. Last week, the Irvine, California, company announced it had a signed agreement from 3Q Holdings to buy the aging i5/OS-based MMS, along with other assets that make up the IPMS division.

As it turns out, 3Q Holdings, which was formerly known as Acuity Investment Management Limited, is no stranger to the retail IT space, and is moving aggressively, through acquisitions, to build a portfolio of point of sale (POS) and back-office management products that it can sell in the Asia-Pacific and North American markets.

Over the last two years, 3Q has bought several players in the market, including QQQ Systems, which developed and sold retail management solutions in Australia and New Zealand; Applied Retail Solutions (ARS), a San Diego, California, provider of software for mid-to-large-size retailers; and AdvanceRetail Technology, a New Zealand developer of solutions for retailers that has a presence throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Interestingly, it was Island Pacific that sold ARS and the OnePoint POS product to 3Q Holdings back in April 2006. Even at that time, Island Pacific was touting how the sale of its ARS subsidiary division would free up more time to concentrate on Retail Pro.

With the disposal of the IPMS division now all but done, Island Pacific–which has alternated between calling itself Island Pacific and Retail Pro for the last year and a half–will be free to focus all of its time and energy on developing and selling its Windows-based Retail Pro POS system. When the sale of IPMS is final, Island Pacific will change its name back to Retail Pro, and move its headquarters from Irvine to the San Diego suburb of La Jolla, where the company has maintained its Retail Pro office.

Barry Schechter, Island Pacific’s CEO, explained the reason behind the move in a press release. “The IPMS division operates in a different segment of the retail industry to Retail Pro. We believe that our shareholders, employees, and customers will therefore be best served by concentrating all of our resources in Retail Pro.”