BMC to buy Marimba
Published: 29 Apr 2004 16:55 BST
BMC Software plans to spend $239m (£135m) to acquire Marimba, a maker of configuration software, in a cash transaction.
BMC said on Thursday that once the purchase is complete, the company will incorporate Marimba's configuration management software into its Remedy line of customer support and network management software. Taking into account Marimba's cash balance, the net purchase price will be $187m. The company expects to complete the purchase in the second quarter.
Also Thursday, BMC announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of the company's fiscal 2004, which ended 31 March. It said that its revenue climbed 5 percent to $400m and that its net earnings on a GAAP basis were $36.9m, or 16 cents per share, which was an increase from $20.6m over the same period last year. The company missed its guidance range of 21 cents to 25 cents earnings per share for the quarter.
BMC makes administration software for running company networks. In 2002, it acquired software company Remedy from Peregrine Systems.
The company intends to fill out the Remedy product line with Marimba's tools for automatically sending out software updates, the company said in a statement.
Paul Crisci, managing director of Broadview International, a division of Jeffries and Co., advised Marimba on the deal. Crispi said that once Marimba's two main rivals -- On Technology and Novadigm -- were acquired by Symantec and Hewlett-Packard, respectively, it made sense for Marimba to look for a buyer that was a larger company.
"Suddenly having Symantec and HP competing against you, the odds are stacked against you," Crispi said. "The larger players are consolidating this entire market segment. This particular functionality (that Marimba provides) is very critical."
Marimba was launched in 1996 and was closely associated with much-hyped "push technology" for sending content and data out to desktop computers. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company, founded by former Sun Microsystems executive Kim Polese, sells software for automatically sending software patches and updates to computers over corporate networks and mobile devices.
Polese stepped down as chairman of the company's board in November and left the chief executive position in 2000.
BMC's acquisition follows a number of other purchases in the systems management area during the past year. IBM purchased Candle last month to fill out its management software line, and Hewlett-Packard, another well-established management company, has acquired a number of smaller management companies.
Marimba on Thursday said that its revenue for the first quarter this year slipped to $8.3m, down from $10.1m during the same period last year. The net loss for the first quarter was $1.2m.
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