Progress Software buys Savvion for $49M

In line with new revenue view, Progress acquires another BPM company

Progress Software, a business enterprise software company, has acquired another, Savvion, for about $49 million in cash.

Since its founding in 1994, Savvion has proven to be a fairly successful Business Process Management (BPM) software company, as it provides services for over 300 international companies, including 24 from the "Fortune 100" list of top companies. The Santa Clara, CA-based company has since 2000 raised nearly $52 million in venture capital from the likes of H.I.G. Capital, Redwood Ventures, TransCosmos, Westaim Partners, Walden International and VantagePoint Venture Partners.

"The Savvion BPM suite is a perfect fit for Progress because it offers leading capabilities for business process modeling and execution," explained Dr. John Bates, Progress Software’s chief technology officer and head of corporate development. "The suite also uniquely includes other integrated key capabilities, including business rules management, document management, an event engine and an analytics engine."

Also, as part of the deal, six Savvion employees joining Progress will receive equity awards of about 110,000 shares, including stock options and restricted stock. Progress has not yet revealed how many of Savvion's 200 employees or so will remain on board.

Progress Software, whose revenue view has been raised to $124 million to $128 million from $123 million to $126 million for the first business quarter, predicts that, with its new acquisition, its yearly revenues will rise to somewhere in the range of $538 million to $548 million.

If so, the purchase of Savvion will have been well worth it.