Lorien Plc, the UK’s largest reseller of Baan Company NV’s enterprise resource planning software, could be preparing to ditch the troubled Dutch vendor. Lorien has confirmed it is in negotiations with rival ERP vendors, including SAP AG, in a move it says is aimed at increasing the expertise of its ERP implementation division. For Lorien to embrace SAP would be a body blow for Baan Company NV, which two weeks ago forecast 1998 losses of $250m, more than twice the expected amount. Lorien categorically denied that it would stop reselling Baan software in favor of SAP, saying it had no plans whatsoever to do so. Commentators speculate that SAP is targeting Baan VARs, hoping to take advantage of the Dutch company’s financial problems. Baan’s predicted 1998 losses are largely due to a $160m restructuring charge which saw 1,200 jobs, 20% of the global workforce, go.