ReadSoft acquires Ebydos AG - becomes world-leading SAP integrator in electronic invoice processing
The Swedish software company ReadSoft yesterday evening acquired Ebydos, a German SAP specialist. The acquisition makes ReadSoft a world leader in electronic invoice processing products for the SAP business system. With 45 employees, the acquired units in Germany, Poland and the United States reported sales of approximately 4.4 million Euros in 2005. A large part of Ebydos’ sales come directly from the cooperation with ReadSoft. Ebydos has shown good profit and the acquisition is expected to increase ReadSoft's earnings per share already this year.
With over 30,000 clients in 120 countries, SAP is one of the most widely used business systems in the world. With over 200 installations, ReadSoft and Ebydos have, cooperated internationally in the area of electronic invoice processing for SAP clients since 2004.
“The acquisition of Ebydos is an important strategic move for us,” says ReadSoft CEO Jan Andersson. “It positions us as the world leader of solutions for electronic invoice processing products based on SAP. The new in-house expertise will enable us to develop new leading-edge products for document handling within this segment. The combined competence from ReadSoft and Ebydos is unique since it gives us the possibility to build integrated solutions within the SAP business system instead of building them outside, as our competitors do. This gives us a strong competitive advantage and a unique position in this market segment.”
The former main owners of Ebydos, Carsten Nelk, Martin Quensel, Markus Ament and Thomas Schmid are all working in the company. They have thorough technical expertise combined with numerous years of experience from the Development Department at SAP. All four will continue working for, the renamed company, ReadSoft Ebydos.
“ReadSoft and Ebydos are a good match,” says Carsten Nelk, President of Ebydos. “Merging the companies is logical considering our close collaboration during the past few years. Using ReadSoft’s global sales and distribution channels, we can penetrate the market in a much more efficient way than we could have done on our own. We now look forward to increasing our sales and innovating new products which will revolutionize document handling within SAP.”
The purchase price for Ebydos consists of one fixed and one variable portion. The fixed portion is divided into shares and cash. In accordance with the decision taken by the General Shareholders’ Meeting of April 25th 2006, the board of ReadSoft has resolved that the sellers of Ebydos will, as part payment, through an issue of new shares, receive a total of 1,229,000 class B-shares which adds up to a value of approximately 3.5 Million Euros. In addition approximately, 1.8 Million Euros will be paid in cash. The two parties have also agreed on a variable portion based on the sales of Ebydos products during the period 2006-2008. This portion cannot exceed approximately 2,7 Million Euro.
The new issue of shares means that the share capital will increase by 122,900 SEK. The new shares will in all aspects have the same rights as the present ReadSoft shares of class B. The new issue of shares will have a diluting effect of approximately 3.8 percent of the share capital and 2.8 percent of the votes.
About Ebydos
Ebydos AG, which was founded in 2000 with a head office in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, optimizes business processes with its solutions portfolio and brings additional intelligence and flexibility to the SAP system. As an expert in business process optimization, Ebydos is specialized in automation of invoice processing in SAP. The solutions Ebydos Process Director, Ebydos Invoice Cockpit, Ebydos Web Cycle, Ebydos Web Board, Ebydos EDI Cockpit, and Ebydos Analyser are also offered.
ReadSoft AB
Jan Andersson, President/CEO
Pho: +46-(0)708 - 37 66 00
Jonna Opitz, Vice President, Corporate Communication
Pho: +46-(0)708 - 37 86 68
E-mail: jonna.opitz@readsoft.com
More about ReadSoft on www.readsoft.com
About ReadSoft
ReadSoft is the world’s leading supplier of software for Document Automation. The company develops and markets a complete product platform for Document Automation named ReadSoft DOCUMENTS. The vision is to free businesses everywhere from manual document handling. Since its founding in 1991, ReadSoft has developed into a global group with 11 subsidiaries in Europe, North and South America and Australia, and a large number of local and global partners. ReadSoft is headquartered in Helsingborg, Sweden, and its primary R&D facility is in Stockholm. ReadSoft has been listed on the Stockholm stock exchange since 1999. For more information please visit www.readsoft.com