CA pimple becomes part of SSA Global Technology's anatomy

By ADAM GIFFORD

Comeback company SSA Global Technology has bought Computer Associates' manufacturing and supply-chain related interBiz software in a multimillion-dollar cash deal.

"We have taken a pimple off CA's back which will become a major part of our anatomy," said SSA GT second in command and executive vice-president for global sales and marketing, New Zealander Graeme Cooksley.

CA, which is under investigation by the United States Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission for alleged accounting irregularities, said it would focus on its core enterprise-management, security, storage, application development, integration, business-intelligence, and portal offerings.

Cooksley said interBiz had about 4000 active customers. SSA GT has about 6000 customers for its existing ERP product, Business Planning and Control System (BPCS), including 70 in New Zealand.

"We believe we will be a $400 million [revenue] company by the end of next year through organic growth and acquisitions," he said.

The acquisition gives SSA GT a fistful of products with established customers, including MasterPiece financial software, Warehouse BOSS, Cas, Manman, Maxcim, MK Manufacturing, MK Logistics, interBiz Logistics, interBiz Reports and PRMS.

Chicago-based System Software Associates (SSA) was one of the earliest ERP vendors. During the 1990s it ran into major technical problems trying to develop versions of BPCS' which ran on platforms other than the IBM AS/400. In 2000 it was put into bankruptcy and its assets acquired by Gores Technology Group for US$52 million ($118 million) plus 25 per cent of the stock of the new company, SSA GT.

In its second quarter ended January 31, SSA GT had revenue of US$35 million, including more than US$12 million from software licences, with 30 per cent of that coming from new name accounts.

Computer Associates says Interbiz generated US$64 million of revenue for the nine months ended December 31, 2001. Cooksley said interBiz customers should have a more secure future with a smaller but growing company.

Cooksley said the interBiz brands and sales forces would be kept separate. There would be some redundancies among the 725 staff coming over from CA.

SSA Global Technologies