23 April 2007, Business Objects today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Cartesis S.A. Cartesis is a leading specialist in enterprise performance management (EPM) software with more than 1,300 customers worldwide. Cartesis provides financial reporting, consolidations, and planning capabilities, as well as a new governance, risk, and compliance portfolio. The acquisition will add important functionality to the Business Objects performance management platform, resulting in the market’s broadest offering to the office of the Chief Financial Officer – from analytics to profitability to consolidations, all supported by the industry’s leading business intelligence infrastructure.

Under terms of the agreement, Business Objects will pay a total transaction value of €225M (approximately $300M) in cash. The acquisition is expected to close within 90 days, subject to regulatory approval, Cartesis shareholder approval, and other customary closing conditions. Due to purchase accounting adjustments, the transaction is expected to be neutral to slightly accretive to earnings for the first year post closing and accretive thereafter, as revenue synergies and economies of scale are realized.

“This acquisition marks an important step in our strategy of systematically building out the industry’s best performance management platform," stated John Schwarz, CEO of Business Objects. “The acquisition of Cartesis will allow us to extend our comprehensive solutions for the office of the CFO by providing critical, cross-application and cross-database line of sight to financial and management reporting, including consolidated statements and budgeting – all on the industry’s number one business intelligence platform."

Cartesis will become a part of the Business Objects Enterprise Performance Management product line organization. Mark Doll, senior vice president and general manager of Global Services and EPM for Business Objects, and Didier Benchimol, CEO of Cartesis, will lead the integration.

“Cartesis’ core competency is high-end financial management," said Didier Benchimol, CEO of Cartesis. “Our domain expertise and robust standards-based offering will complement the already strong presence that Business Objects has in performance management. Business Objects’ performance management platform strategy is open and completely aligned with our longstanding aspirations. We are excited about becoming a part of the Business Objects team."