IBM Acquires Unica, Continuing Its Merger Spree
Aggressive mergers have boosted Oracle’s (ORCL) shareholder returns over the years. Now it looks like IBM (IBM) wants to do the same. After all, software companies have fairly high margins and stable revenues. Oh, and the industry is still highly fragmented.
So, even with the recent market instability, this has been no impediment for IBM’s merger spree. And the latest move came this week with the $480 million deal for Unica Corp. (UNCA). As a sign of the importance of the transaction, the premium was a whopping 120%.
Basically, Unica develops technology to help companies improve their marketing efforts, whether online or offline. This involves intensive analytics of web traffic and customer behavior.
The business has been growing, with revenues increasing 14% in the latest quarter to $30.7 million (there are over 1,500 customers).