MAPICS acquires Pivotpoint

To expand its offerings in the mid-tier enterprise resource planning (ERP) market, MAPICS has finalized plans to acquire Pivotpoint, a privately held applications and e-business solutions provider heaquartered in Woburn, MA. MAPICS provides enterprise business applications for midsized manufacturers.

Terms of the acquisition include the purchase of all Pivotpoint shares and payment of debt for a total of $48 million in cash. MAPICS reported revenues of $134.7 million for its fiscal year ended Sept. 30, while Pivotpoint estimates total revenues of more than $25 million for 1999. FleetBoston Financial , through its subsidiary BankBoston, announced that it has provided $55 million in revolving and term loan credit to MAPICS to support its acquisition of Pivotpoint.

With the acquisition, MAPICS expands its offerings across multiple platforms, including Windows NT, Unix, Linus and AS/400. Pivotpoint gains access to MAPICS' worldwide network of affiliate sales organizations.

As part of the merger, Steve Haley, Pivotpoint's president and CEO, will assume the new position of chief operating officer of MAPICS.

"This is a smart strategic move for both companies," said Bruce Richardson, senior VP of AMR Research. "It combines two compatible cultures that have strong ERP products and e-business strategies. Each can leverage the other's sales channels and complementary vertical markets. This is clearly a case where the whole is stronger than the individual parts."