Epiphany will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of SSA Global. Those holding outstanding Epiphany common stock will receive a cash payment of $4.20 per share, to be distributed as a $2.13 per share special distribution and $2.07 per share as merger consideration.
Epiphany fills a gap in the SSA portfolio because although it had some CRM capability it was patchy and lacked sophistication, so customer demand for SSA CRM was low. SSA’s CRM strengths lie in configuration and field service functionality, which are not areas Epiphany covers. Epiphany will add strength in marketing automation, marketing analytics, sales force automation, online solutions and ecommerce.
When the deal was first announced, backed by the boards of both SSA and Epiphany, it was greeted positively there was dissent from institutional investor Donald Collins, a principal with Ironwood Capital Management.
He said the 7% premium the offer represented over Epiphany’s closing price prior to the announcement of the deal, was too low. He said he opposed the acquisition at the price offered and encouraged other institutional investors to do the same. However, SSA did not increase the price nor did shareholders veto the offer.
Epiphany’s acquisition highlights fundamental change in the CRM marketplace, a change that was indisputably confirmed when Siebel Systems Inc agreed to be purchased by Oracle, that CRM is no longer a standalone market, either in terms of concept or technology.
