Infor Snags Workbrain for Work Force Management

Infor, a company that’s built itself into the world’s third largest enterprise resource planning software company through acquisitions, announced April 2 that it has acquired another company: Workbrain.

Under the terms of the deal, Infor will acquire all of Workbrain’s outstanding shares at a price of $12.50 per share, or about $227 million. The transaction has already been approved by Workbrain’s board of directors and is expected to close in June.

Workbrain develops software that helps companies manage their work force through automation of areas like time and attendance, scheduling, absence management and work force planning. Infor will add the company’s suite of applications to its human capital management software.

Workbrain itself will become the “hub” of Infor’s HCM Center of Excellence, according to Jim Schaper, Infor’s Chairman and CEO, who discussed the deal in an April 2 teleconference with press and analysts.

During the call David Ossip, Workbrain’s CEO, said that while the company had initially planned to remain independent, an offer from Infor led to a change of heart.

“During the first half of last year, the company’s board went through a process to determine the company’s future,” said Ossip. “Our decision was to continue as a stand-alone entity.”

Ossip said that the company then received a unsolicited offer from Infor, but declined to comment on whether the company had entertained additional offers—particularly from Oracle, another serial acquirer rivaling Infor. But Ossip did add that it’s hard to remain independent in today’s market.

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