PeopleSoft to acquire Vantive
Following several months of speculation, PeopleSoft has agreed to acquire Vantive in a stock transaction valued at over $400 million. Under the terms of the transaction, Vantive shareholders will receive .825 share of PeopleSoft stock for each Vantive share.
PeopleSoft, which has focused on enterprise back office applications of HR and finance will be complemented by Vantive’s CRM and sales force automation applications. The companies have promised a combined CRM strategy early next year.
In making the announcement, the companies stressed the impact their combined strength will offer to eBusiness solutions. PeopleSoft presented the merger as offering, “a 360-degree view of the customer lifecycle.”
Integrating the two product suites should go smoothly as Vantive has been offering QuckConnect for PeopleSoft for several months. Likewise, PeopleSoft has certified Vantive under the PeopleSoft Open Integration Framework program.
"Vantive provides a truly compelling customer solution to complement PeopleSoft's Applications for eBusiness," said Craig Conway, recently installed president of PeopleSoft. "PeopleSoft needed a partner that has embraced the Internet as the next forum for global business; we got all of that and more with Vantive.” Conway replaces PeopleSoft’s flamboyant founder David A. Duffield, who remains chairman of the board.