Monday 10 August 2009

SAP to buy Tibco?

(By Anthony Miller – Monday 10th August 2009 10:30am). Our good friend George O’Connor at Panmure Gordon picked up on a report in the German press that SAP “is in very advanced talks” to buy Nasdaq-listed SOA/BPM software firm, Tibco. Having lost the ‘obvious suspect’ BPM player, IDS Scheer, to compatriot Software AG (see Software AG extends scale and reach with IDS Scheer buy), we can see why SAP would be casting its net around for the next best thing. At its last quarterly results (to 31st May), Tibco’s revenues were down 5% yoy to $142m with operating margins just under 10% (SAP’s are around 28%). Tibco was valued at $1.5b last Friday, and its shares had been on a steady rise this year, up 65% ytd, compared to SAP’s +35%. SAP was sitting on some €2.7b ($3.8b) of cash and cash equivalents at the end of June. Now, who will step into the fray to try to queer SAP’s pitch, I wonder?

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