Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN) (TSX: CSN), the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, and Applix, Inc. (NASDAQ: APLX), a publicly held company based in Westborough, Massachusetts and an industry leader in analytics, have jointly announced the execution of a definitive agreement for Cognos to acquire Applix.
With this acquisition, Cognos expects to further extend its position as a leading independent provider of financial performance management.
The planned acquisition is a cash tender offer of $17.87 per share, which equates to approximately $339 million or $306 million net of Applix cash on hand. The transaction is subject to the receipt of regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Cognos expects the acquisition to be completed in the fourth calendar quarter of 2007.
“This acquisition is a terrific strategic fit for Cognos. Applix will broaden our solution offering and provide Cognos with an innovative, 64-bit, in-memory analytics capability,” said Ged Simmons, Sales Director, Middle East and South Africa, Cognos. “It will also bring into the company a very strong employee and customer base that has been committed to performance management through high-impact analytics. This is another major step forward for Cognos in delivering leading performance management solutions to finance and across operations.”
“We believe that this combination represents a great opportunity for the entire Applix community,” said David Mahoney, president and CEO at Applix. “Our customers, partners and employees will become an important part of Cognos, which will allow the company to further enhance its position as a leader in the analytics market. Our organizations are very complementary, and I feel that they will blend together to create a leader in the financial performance management market.”
Applix will complement Cognos flagship products— Cognos 8 Planning, Cognos 8 Controller, and Cognos 8 Business Intelligence —specifically in the area of financial performance management. Applix performance analytics will give customers new and enhanced capabilities to analyze and optimize financial performance. This will include improved analysis and optimization of large, complex financial performance data; strong finance self-service capabilities such as business rules management; new solution areas including profitability analysis; and innovative technology, including Applix TM1, a patented, 64-bit, in-memory multidimensional OLAP server.
With trailing 12 months revenue of US $61.2 million and year-over-year growth of 45%, Applix is recognized as a leader in the financial analytics market. The company and its global network of partners help more than 3,000 customers worldwide manage their business analytics needs. Customers range across a broad variety of industries including insurance, financial services, banking, healthcare, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, manufacturing, consumer goods and retail. Incorporated in 1983, Applix has been publicly traded since 1994. Applix has also been recognized by numerous industry and analyst groups for being a technical and strategic leader in the marketplace, including being positioned in the Visionaries Quadrant of Gartner’s CPM Magic Quadrant.
Photocaption: Ged Simmons, Sales Director, Middle East and South Africa, Cognos.
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Notes to Editors:
All values quoted are in US dollars.
About Applix, Inc:
Applix (NASDAQ: APLX) empowers agile enterprises by offering the only complete Business Analytics software solution. The Company is focused exclusively on providing a single, cohesive Performance Management and Business Intelligence solution, with strategic planning, forecasting, consolidations, reporting and analytics across financial, operational, sales and marketing, and human resources departments. The Applix platform, powered by the renowned TM1 analytics engine, reaches farther, deploys easier, and reacts faster than any business analytics solution available today. Applix and its global network of partners help 3,000 customers worldwide manage their business performance and respond proactively to the marketplace. Headquartered in Westborough, MA, Applix maintains offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
About Cognos:
Cognos, the world leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, provides world-class enterprise planning and BI software and services to help companies plan, understand and manage financial and operational performance.
Cognos brings together technology, analytical applications, best practices, and a broad network of partners to give customers a complete performance system. The Cognos performance system is an open and adaptive solution that leverages an organization’s ERP, packaged applications, and database investments. It gives customers the ability to answer the questions -- How are we doing? Why are we on or off track? What should we do about it? – and enables them to understand and monitor current performance while planning future business strategies.
Cognos serves more than 23,000 customers in more than 135 countries, and its top 100 enterprise customers consistently outperform market indexes. Cognos performance management solutions and services are also available from more than 3,000 worldwide partners and resellers. For more information, visit the Cognos Web site at http://www.cognos.com/ae/index.html
