Best Software, Inc., announced that its UK-based parent company, The Sage Group plc, has completed the acquisition of ACCPAC International, Inc. ACCPAC is an accounting, CRM and Internet-hosted solutions vendor offering a comprehensive suite of end-to-end business management applications. Prior to the acquisition, ACCPAC was a subsidiary of Computer Associates International, Inc. Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, previously announced on December 23, 2003, the acquisition has an equity value of $110 million.ACCPAC will contribute a $4 million cash balance, giving an enterprise value of $106 million. The acquisition was paid for in cash.
"We are pleased to have completed the acquisition of ACCPAC as their applications will help us better serve small and medium-sized businesses in North America," said Best Software CEO Ron Verni. "Specifically for our CRM division, ACCPAC's hosted solutions now give us a complete offering to go with our desktop solutions and our award-winning ACT! and SalesLogix product lines."
ACCPAC gives Best Software a leading position in Canada and adds a global base of approximately 540,000 customers to the combined Best/Sage customer base. The combined companies will also significantly increase the size of their channel network. By acquiring a hosted CRM solution, Best Software is tapping into a significant growth area. According to Gartner's recent Small and Medium Business CRM market report, worldwide growth of hosted applications in the CRM software market is projected to increase during the next five years to a 13 percent market share in 2007. Gartner's report also stated that Best Software leads the worldwide small business CRM space with 25% market share ahead of Siebel, Frontrange, and Salesforce.com.
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