SAP America Inc., the German software makers American subsidiary, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Sybase Inc. in a transaction that will bring the two IT giants together to enable companies to take better advantage of mobile technologies and services.
Under the terms and conditions of the merger agreement, SAP America will make an all-cash tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of Sybase common stock at $65.00 per share, representing an enterprise value of approximately $5.8 billion.
SAP is looking to drive higher user adoption of SAP software and unlock significant business value out of existing customer investments. In addition, Sybases mobile technology can connect all applications and data (SAP and non-SAP) and enable them on mobile devices.
With this transaction, SAP will dramatically expand its addressable market by making available its market-leading solutions to hundreds of millions of mobile users, combining the world's best business software with the world's most powerful mobile infrastructure platform, said SAP co-chief executive Bill McDermott in a statement. This is a game-changing transaction for SAP and Sybase customers, who will be better able to connect their employees with key functionality and information from anywhere and make it easier for companies to make faster, more informed business decisions in real time. With SAPs customer-centric approach, we are resolute in our commitment to support Sybase customers to be best-run businesses.
Sybase plans to bring its event processing and analytics expertise, which was built in the financial sector, to customers in other industries, markets and product areas in which SAP has a complementary presence.
SAP said it would continue to support each organizations product roadmap, while enhancing products to help customers derive additional value from existing investments.
Sybase will operate as a stand-alone unit under the name Sybase, an SAP Company. Sybase's management team will continue to run the business. The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2010.
