Golden Gate Buys Lawson Software in $2B Deal

Enterprise software maker Lawson Software announced that it will be acquired by GGC Software Holdings Inc., an affiliate of buyout shop Golden Gate Capital, and privately held software company Infor. The deal values Lawson at roughly $2 billion. Golden Gate Capital and Infor, will pay $11.25 per share for Lawson, a discount of about 7% to Monday’s closing price. The deal is expected to close during the third quarter.

PRESS RELEASE
GGC Software Holdings, Inc., an affiliate of Golden Gate Capital and Infor, has agreed to acquire Lawson Software. Following completion of the transaction, the combined suite of Infor and Lawson will create a unique set of industry-specific applications serving more than 75,000 customers and a global leader in verticals such as manufacturing, health care, distribution, public sector, and hospitality.

“Infor and Lawson will create a rich, integrated enterprise application suite. After the transaction closes, we plan to integrate many of the applications as soon after closing as possible, facilitated by a standards-based approach and the fact that both companies’ applications are already service-enabled. We also plan to innovate and change how customers deploy, use, and upgrade enterprise applications. We have a long list of ideas to improve the customer experience and deliver value through a singular focus on enterprise applications, accelerated investment, and a strong incentive to challenge convention,” said Charles Phillips, CEO of Infor.

Infor’s manufacturing, supply chain, product lifecycle, workforce, and asset management products, with Lawson’s best-in-class enterprise financials and human resources products will improve business process flows and reduce integration costs via single sign-on, common look-and-feel and seamless navigation across composite applications deployed on-premise and in the cloud.

Infor has already announced an accelerated plan to hire 400 additional software engineers and ship approximately 60 percent more products and enhancements as compared to last year. In addition, the company plans to reduce the need for customizations, take responsibility for more localizations, and make reports and user extensions easier to upgrade.

Infor and Lawson will also offer richer and deeper functionality in the verticals where the companies have complementary strengths such as healthcare, state and local government, wholesale distribution, fashion, food and beverage, equipment rental and service, and process and discrete manufacturing.

The proposed transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the third calendar quarter of 2011.

About Infor
Infor is a leading provider of business software and services, helping 70,000 customers in 125 countries improve operations and drive growth. To learn more about Infor, please visit www.infor.com.

About Golden Gate Capital
Golden Gate Capital is a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm with approximately $9 billion of capital under management. Golden Gate is dedicated to partnering with world-class management teams to invest in change-intensive, growth businesses. The firm targets investments where there is a demonstrable opportunity to significantly enhance a company’s value. The principals of Golden Gate have a long and successful history of investing with management partners across a wide range of industries and transaction types, including leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, corporate divestitures and spin-offs, build-ups and venture stage investing. For more information, visit www.goldengatecap.com.

This message may contain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, management’s beliefs, and certain assumptions made by the companies. Words such as ”anticipates,” ”expects,” ”intends,” ”plans,” ”believes,” ”seeks,” ”estimates,” ”may,” ”will” and variations of these words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements include, but are not limited to statements regarding the impact of the transaction, including but not limited to, the companies’ expectations with respect to the combined companies available solutions, leadership position, competitive strengths and positioning; client base; the approval of the transaction by stockholders and regulators; the satisfaction of the closing conditions to the transaction; the completion of the transaction on stated terms; and the timing of the completion of the transaction. Such statements speak only as of the date hereof and are subject to change. The companies undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Important factors that may cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, the risk the companies’ businesses and their relationships with customers, employees or suppliers could suffer due to the uncertainty relating to the transaction; that the transaction may not be consummated, may be consummated on different terms or may be delayed; that anticipated synergies and strategic benefits from the transaction may not be fully realized; that a failure to satisfy conditions to close the transaction, including obtaining the requisite regulatory and stockholder approvals, may occur; and the general economic and political conditions and specific conditions that may impact company operations. Further information on Lawson, including additional risk factors that may affect forward looking statements, is contained in its Annual Report on Form 10-K and in its other SEC filings that are available through the SEC’s website (www.sec.gov).