ERP specialist Infor to buy asset management company

Infor, an Alpharetta, Ga.-based company that develops enterprise resource planning and supply chain software, will buy Datastream Systems, which provides asset management and procurement software to the commercial and public sectors.

Under an agreement between the two companies announced today, Infor will pay $10.26 per share in cash to Datastream stockholders, who must still approve the deal. According to a press release, the deal should be finalized by the second quarter this year.

“Both Datastream and Infor are committed to future innovation using a services oriented architecture that will enable those customers with asset-intensive maintenance requirements the ability to combine maintenance and asset information with production and operations data to uncover new performance management capabilities affordably from one vendor,” Jim Schaper, Infor’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in the press release.

Datastream, which is based in Greenville, S.C., counts the cities of Greensboro, N.C., San Jose, Calif., Philadelphia and Wilmington, Del., among its government customers. It also serves Miami-Dade County, Fla., and several law enforcement agencies. The company claims about 6,700 customers overall.

Datastream customers will not see any change in service, said Greg Sutter, Datastream's vice president of marketing and alliances. "There will be no difference," he said. "We will support those current customers and new customers just like we always have. They’re very important to us."

He said Datastream made a concerted effort, starting about one year ago, to go after state and local government clients. He does not expect that strategy to change after the deal with Infor is finalized.

Infor does not have its own enterprise asset management product, Sutter said, and the acquisition of Datastream brings that component to the table.

Sutter declined to comment on the prospect of laying off employees, saying that he doesn't know yet whether that will be necessary. However, Infor has been growing through acquisitions for the past year or so and has been "very, very focused on new customer growth and not just milking the subscriber base they acquired," he said. Infor will also continue to invest in research and development, he added.

The combined company would have about $800 million in revenue and 24,700 customers in 140 nations.