The deal is expected to close by the end of the fourth quarter and is subject to the usual regulatory approvals. The acquisition will add to Business Objects’ earnings next year.
The Paris-based business intelligence (BI) software maker is eyeing Infommersion’s patent-pending interactive data visualization and presentation software which helps business users manipulate and share data graphically in PowerPoint presentations, Acrobat PDF documents and Web formats.
Business Objects hopes to integrate this technology into its XI BI platform and says that product teams from both sides are working on a unified plan that will be communicated once the deal is done and dusted.
Both companies did not have a formal partnership in place prior to the acquisition. Nor is Infommersion believed to have any other relationships with rival BI vendors that might be impacted by this acquisition.
San Diego-based Imfommersion was founded in 2002 and employs around 35 staff, most of whom are expected to join Business Objects. Its main product is Xcelsius, an application that serves up BI data as visual charts, graphs and (Excel) dashboards. Business Objects said the company has thousands of users worldwide, across enterprise, mid-market and OEMs Customers include: American Express, Cisco and Verizon.
The company recently announced integration with Microsoft’s SharePoint portal offering which is crafted around a series of unique interconnected graphical Web parts used to represent data.
The acquisition is the first engineered by Business Objects under new chief executive John Schwarz. When Schwartz took over the helm last month he hinted at further acquisitions.
The deal pales in comparison to the $820m Business Objects splashed out for Canadian reporting and analysis tool vendor Crystal Decisions back in the summer of 2003.
Business Objects will report its third quarter results on October 27, 2005.
