Hi all,

The Baan Company is up for grabs($400 - $500 million).

How is it going affect our lives?IBM seems to be one of the competitors(if at all there are more than one takers).

All Billioneers are welcome to buy.


Let's get it started.Post your valuable comments.


Thanks

Why don´t we all put some meony together and buy Baan?

Who says Baan Company up for buying? Are there any press releases?

there is news about it https://www.se.com/sites/corporate/en/products-services/former-brands/invensys/invensys-is-now-schneider-electric.page - latest trading news page.

Indeed, let's start bidding!

Here's a clipping from a Dutch newspaper (in dutch):

LONDEN (ANP) - Het Britse Invensys wil af van Baan, het Nederlandse softwarebedrijf dat het drie jaar geleden kocht. De industriële automatiseerder liet maandag weten geld nodig te hebben voor pensioenverplichtingen en schuldvermindering.

Invensys maakte eerder dit jaar bekend fors te moeten afschrijven op Baan, dat in 2000 voor 711 miljoen euro werd overgenomen. Het Nederlandse IT-bedrijf telt 3000 werknemers, van wie er duizend in Nederland werken.

Behalve Baan wil Invensys nog meer bedrijfsonderdelen verkopen of gedeeltelijk afstoten en zich concentreren op de onderdelen waar de meeste groei in zit.

Beurswaarde

Op de beurs heeft Invensys dit jaar al driekwart van zijn waarde verloren. Het nieuws om zich op de kerntaken te concentreren viel dinsdagochtend goed bij de beleggers. Invensys was de grootste stijger op de effectenbeurs van Londen met een koerswinst van bijna 14 procent.

De vakbond RMU zegt er teleurgesteld over te zijn dat Invensys niet de stabiele partner is die het bij de overname in 2000 nog leek te zijn. ,,De laatste tijd bleek al dat Invensys niet kon en wilde investeren in Baan. Onder personeel en klanten groeide daardoor de onzekerheid'', aldus vakbondsonderhandelaar C. Baggerman.

More information on the Invensys news:


BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2949483.stm

London Financial Times:
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1048313765174&p=1012571727085

I can chip in a few dollars. Who else?? I can see the headlines now "BaanBoard now owns Baan". :)

Mark

Baan Is Officially on the Block (http://www.amrresearch.com/Content/view.asp?pmillid=16008)

Baan Is Officially on the Block
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
John Bermudez, Randy Weston



It’s official: Invensys is selling Baan in a move to strip down to its bare essentials.

Invensys is clearing out nearly 70% of the business it has built the past few years to concentrate solely on its production management in the process industries. As a result, Invensys will be holding on to the Wonderware and Protean process systems.

But Baan and its pieces, including the CAPS Logistics supply chain products, the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, and the Production Lifecycle Management (PLM) products, as well as Baan’s field organization, which was never merged into Invensys, will all be sold.

No word on who might buy Baan, but likely suitors include SSA Technologies, PeopleSoft, or a venture-funded group taking Baan private.

Invensys says that some joint Invensys/Baan technology will still be honored after the sell, such as Baan’s OpenWorldX platform that Wonderware uses as well.

What can customers expect? As we said when we first reported on this possibility a few weeks ago, not much. Life will go on, just as it did when Invensys bought Baan. Baan is a solid product and a valuable property; no matter who gets it, it will still be taken seriously and not bled dry of declining maintenance revenue until it can be shut down.

Customers won’t have to wait long to know their vendor’s fate. AMR Research expects this all to play out in weeks, if not days. Baan will have a new home by summer, we are certain. In the meantime, users should continue with their plans.

Yes, I told you so. Those that know me will know that I have been saying that for a while that Baan will be sold soon, and almost inside the time limit I gave (and beleive me, some say the reason I am not working at the moment is due to words by some UK Baan people calling me a trouble maker due to the views)... I even remember somewhere in the Board that I announced what I think will happen with the sale (Invensys will have licensing for life and allowed to develop its own product).

Now its all very nice saying who will buy and things, but the main question should be, what about the users. Okay, so some consultancies will now be rubbing hands and trying to sell you all Navision and SAP, but even then you will need some support from Baan, and where will that come from. The trimming of the fat will start now, and that begins with development... then sales.. then of course support.

These will be trying months for all you users, without information coming from Baan (and we all know how much a lack of info there was last time!) and with a shrinking workforce bound to start soon, it is now time to look ahead... Who would be a prefect owner for the company, should Baanboard start a poll and then put forward a possible purchase idea to the company in question. Should Baanboard start a 'Save Baan'!

Now is the time to act, a time to fight and a time to plan.

I personally would like to see the survival of the software, the development of a future Baan product and the continuation of a userbased community that has grown globally over the last few years...

A note from ComputerWire floated into my office earlier this week and here is a second article mentioning SSA as a buyer. I find this interesting as SSA (www.ssagt.com (http://www.ssagt.com) ) has been a company managing a second tier (formerly first tier AS/400 package BPCS) ERP app for many years profitably and with relatively low customer attrition. Hmmm...


Baan: SSA may take on the challenge
By Datamonitor
Posted: 17/04/2003 at 08:24 GMT



Baan is among a batch of companies that Invensys has put up for sale. Invensys now wants to focus on production management after a dismal financial performance in weakening trading conditions. While Baan is likely to sell for a fairly low price in the current market, Invensys will finally be able to concentrate its attentions elsewhere.

Invensys said it will seek suitable equity partners or new owners for the businesses but as it plans to keep some of Baan's operations in-house, it has little incentive to retain an interest in the rest.

In February, Invensys warned it would have to write down a substantial part of the $714.7 million it paid for Baan in 2000, as the poorly performing operation is likely to contribute a $16.8 million loss this year.

With more than 15,000 customer sites worldwide, Baan is bound to attract widespread interest, though the ERP market is brutally competitive and market leaders such as SAP AG have tended to make progress at the expense of smaller competitors.

What gives SSA a big advantage is that it is both cash rich and privately owned, and not worried about a skeptical market reaction to taking over a company that has been synonymous with losses for many years. Earlier this month, SSA raised $75 million from General Atlantic Partners to fill out its war chest for new acquisitions.

The Chicago, Illinois-based company aims to hoist revenue to an annual rate of $500 million by the end of this year. In the past, it has looked for more modest purchases to take it into new vertical niches, but the addition of Baan would move it into a different league and give it a strong base in the manufacturing industry.

Baan was a poorly managed, over-staffed company, leaking huge quantities of cash before Invensys brought its independent existence to an end. Initially, it appeared a good fit with Invensys' own focus on industry but Invensys lost the confidence of the investment community. While in the current climate Baan will fetch only a modest sum, there will be relief that someone else will have the headache of finding a way to make it profitable.


-- Jim

Jan Baan may look to buy back Invensys software unit - report
AFX News Limited
Monday, April 21, 2003
Baan NewsAll News
Baan News Home


LONDON (AFX) - Jan Baan may consider buying back the software company he sold for 470 mln stg three years ago to Invensys PLC, the Financial Times reported.

The purchase of Baan was blamed for precipitating the decline that climaxed in last week's decision to break up Invensys.

Vanenburg Group, a software development company, part-owned by Jan Baan, told the FT: "We'd be stupid not to look at Baan."

"If Invensys made a proposal, we would seriously consider it, but we will not actively pursue it."

Last week, Invensys announced that it would sell two-thirds of its businesses, with sales of 2.9 bln stg, to concentrate on factory automation and rail systems, which have sales of about 1.6 bln.

Vanenburg, which specialises in additional applications complementing Baan's enterprise resource planning software, admitted to recent contacts with Invensys, with which it shares customers, the FT article said.

newsdesk@afxnews.com

More interesting articles:

http://www.computerweekly.co.uk/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=121132&liArticleTypeID=1&liCategoryID=2&liChannelID=24&liFlavourID=1&sSearch=&nPage=1

Baan up for sale - costly migrations loom for UK users

cw Major UK manufacturers left in limbo as parent firm Invensys puts Dutch ERP supplier on the market.

Business software at the heart of major manufacturing and aeronautics companies could have an increasingly uncertain future, after the Dutch ERP supplier Baan was put up for sale last week by UK parent Invensys, analysts have warned.

Users of Baan software include the UK government's defence Aviation Repair Agency, engineering giants Boeing and BAE Systems, drinks producer Del Monte and car maker Volvo.

These companies could face either a costly migration to new software or risking potential underinvestment in a system that lies at the centre of their business.

"The worst case scenario is that someone comes in for Baan who sacks all the marketing and development staff and just milks the installed base," said Simon Bragg, analyst at manufacturing consultancy ARC Consulting.

"Users have to ask themselves, 'Do I continue to add Baan modules or ringfence my existing investment and connect Baan to other solutions with enterprise application integration tools?'"

EAI projects are some of the most expensive and difficult in business computing.

Judith Jordan, analyst at Ovum Holway, said Baan's future is uncertain because other software suppliers are unlikely to bid for the company. "Baan never got the focus it needed within Invensys, and its business model could not withstand the softening in the market as well as some other ERP suppliers, such as SAP and Oracle," she said. "The attractiveness of Baan's customer base must be offset by the investment needed to get it back on track."

Engineering group Invensys bought Baan for £470m in 2000, aiming to get the firm to break-even point in 12 months, but Baan has continued to make a loss.

Charles Homs, analyst at Forrester Research, said Baan users will be forced to wait and see rather than move to another software supplier immediately. "Because switching suppliers or upgrading are both expensive, most Baan customers should wait for a new buyer. If they cannot wait, a growing list of rapid implementation tools will help users review viable alternatives, like Oracle, Manugistics or SAP."

But Baan users in the UK said changing systems overnight was not a viable option.

"There is nothing we can do in the short term," said Jim Symington, group head of MIS at bed manufacturer Hypnos. "If we were to look at something new tomorrow it would be six months before it was bought and then two years before it was installed - with ERP you can't move quickly."

Baan insisted there is a high likelihood that there will be a buyer and that the situation will be resolved quickly. "We are well into a structured process (for selling the company) with several potential buyers," said Dave Wangler, senior vice president of global marketing at Baan. "We can assure users that investment has already been made in our next generation software products and we would ask them to look at the situation rationally."

Who's in the running to buy Baan?

* Most analysts believe rival ERP suppliers such as Oracle and PeopleSoft will not buy Baan, for competitive and financial reasons
* Microsoft may relish 6,000 extra .net prospects and has the cash
* Geac or Computer Associates might consider a low bid to capitalise on the maintenance revenue, Forrester Research said
* An acquisition by an equity investor would be the best news for Baan users because these firms would not have to integrate Baan's technology into another supplier's application stack, Forrester said.


http://www.computerweekly.co.uk/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=121101&liArticleTypeID=1&liCategoryID=2&liChannelID=32&liFlavourID=2&sSearch=&nPage=1

Baan up for sale as Invensys chooses solo route

cw

Financial instability has forced Invensys to drop Baan as part of a corporate strategy shake-up to secure the group’s position.

The ERP vendor is up for sale after Invensys decided to narrow its focus from two core divisions to one, production management, cutting Baan out of the picture.

Invensys rescued Baan with a E762m takeover in May 2000 after almost two years of financial uncertainty (see MicroScope, 6 June 2000).

Baan president Laurence Vandertang remained positive about the future and insisted amicable relations existed between the two companies.

“We are looking for a new owner and we have a number of interested parties. There is very high interest and we are quite optimistic we will get a buyer soon,” he revealed.

An Invensys spokesperson admitted differing agendas also played a part in the split, claiming Baan was lacking the focus and support it needed from a parent company.

Vandertang added that in the meantime it was business as usual: “Obviously, we want to go through the process with speed, but I couldn’t put a time on it, these are complex cycles.”

(Source: Computer Weekly)

I got some info from sources that Jan Baan is the one that will buy Baan back...
Does anyone has fresh info on the subject?

When the announcement was first made, I remember Jan Baan said that should the opportunity present itself, he would consider the possibility to buy Baan from Invensys, but would not actively pursue that course of action.

Try this link for more info:

http://www.business.scotsman.com/industry.cfm?id=459032003

Looks like JamesV's tip about SSA is becoming reality:

SSA leads chase to buy Baan

2 May 2003 SSA Global Technologies will shortly conclude the purchase of Invensys' Baan software subsidiary, according to mounting rumours circulating in the City of London.


The revitalised enterprise resource planning (ERP) software vendor SSA GT is set to conclude a deal within weeks for Baan - and for radically less than the $708 million that Invensys, the troubled engineering conglomerate, paid for it in 2000.


SSA GT is awash with cash after raising $75 million from venture capital group General Atlantic Partners just last month. CEO Mike Greenough's plans to make SSA GT a $400 million company by July 2003 are well known. It even retains a head of acquisitions to research potential opportunities.


Both Baan and SSA GT were once top five ERP software vendors.


In April 2002, SSA bought the Interbiz ERP division of Computer Associates, but its revenues still run far short of Greenough's target. In the second fiscal quarter to the end of January 2003, the company posted revenues of $64 million, up 55% on the same period a year earlier.


System Software Associates (SSA) was one of the stars of the early enterprise resource planning (ERP) software sector, but sales collapsed dramatically in the mid-1990s following the botched introduction of new product.


Called BPCS 6, the package was bug-ridden and, before those bugs had been ironed out, the company tried to force users into upgrading. That led to a fall in sales and a crisis of confidence from which it never recovered.


It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2000 and the assets were purchased by Gores Technology Group in July of that year. In May 2001, another venture capital investor, Cerberus, took a majority stake in the company.

Author: Graeme Burton
gburton@infoconomy.com
Date: 2 May 2003

I think that we have to consider the options here. Would Jan Baan buy back Baan? Well, yes I think he would, but not at the asking price. Would any other ERP company be interested? No, not considering the present market (and the market is crap at the moment!). Would there ever be a user buyout? Well, possible but that involves quite a lot of work, lot of capital and a lot of decisions. To do that would mean that a group of users would have to get together (globally), gain the capital and build the company.. This would be from scratch!!!

So whats the best option for Baan, well, that is what we are all waiting for. I think as users, we don't want more of the articles, the business touts planning, the sales guys fluff... Can the board (Pat, over to you!) get hold of some one high up in Baan, someone who has an idea of whats happening, to give an exclusice to BaanBoard, giving the members of this community, the Baan Users after all, a clear and present view of the future of the beloved software solution.

And why not get hold of Jan Baan at the same time, get another point of view, then Invensys as to what Invensys want from the deal, or have they already got what they wanted?

This forum was designed to inform, educate and also keep alive the Baan software, I think now, in this time of darkness, this lull of information, is the time that Baan gave something back....

I ask for the users of this forum, the moderators, the admins to come together and show a force to the Baan leaders, that there is a user base out there, a community loyal to the software and a sales oppertunity to those considering the purchase...

Stand and be counted, for after the sword has fallen, there may be no more to count.

"Extract from the Sunday Times "
May 11, 2003

Invensys close to sale of Baan — at a £400m loss
John O’Donnell



INVENSYS, the troubled conglomerate, is close to selling Baan, the Dutch software business, for £68m. It bought it three years ago for £470m.
Baan was bought by Invensys in 2000 at the height of its expansion, and has lost money ever since. Invensys is understood to be in final talks with two potential buyers, the American private-equity house Texas Pacific, and an unnamed trade buyer.

A spokesman for Invensys said: “We are delighted with the interest that has been shown in the approaches to Baan. Its 6,000 customers make it attractive to buyers.”

Critics of Invensys’ management say that the price likely to be achieved shows the weakness in its planned programme of disposals. “They are in no position to hang on until Baan is in better shape and worth more,” said one analyst.

The sale of Baan will be a milestone in the dismemberment of Invensys, which was created by the £9 billion merger in 1998 of Siebe and BTR. The company now has a market value of just £542m, and last month announced plans to dispose of about two-thirds of its businesses in a desperate attempt to avoid breaching its banking covenants.

A crucial test for Rick Haythornthwaite, the chief executive recruited from Blue Circle in October 2001 to put together a rescue plan, will come at the end of the month when the company publishes full-year results.

At only £68m, one or two dozen good-sized clients could form a coop and buy the company for the cost of their initial respective implementations!

Scott