Bellevue’s Concur sold to SAP for $8.3 billion

  • The Seattle Times
  • Friday, September 19, 2014 3:41pm
  • Business

Concur Technologies is being sold to business software giant SAP in a deal valued at about $8.3 billion.

Founded in August 1993, Bellevue-based Concur develops and sells software allowing companies to manage business and travel expenses.

SAP, based in Walldorf, Germany, offers software to manage business operations and customer relations.

The majority of SAP customers do not run Concur, and together the two will have more than 50 million users in the cloud, making them the world’s second-largest cloud company by revenue, the companies said.

“We have always been focused on making solutions for real customer problems and with SAP we have a great opportunity to advance that mission,” said Steve Singh, CEO of Concur. “We are constantly seeking innovative ways to deliver the best customer experience, and we’re excited about leveraging SAP technology.”

The Concur board unanimously approved the sale, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, or the first quarter of 2015. The deal is subject to stockholder approval and regulatory clearance.

SAP is paying $129 a share for Concur, a 20 percent increase over Wednesday’s closing price, the company said. The price is 28 percent higher than the Sept. 2 close, the day before rumors of a sale emerged.

Concur’s online tools are currently used by 23,000 customers worldwide. During a conference call with analysts, SAP CEO Bill McDermott said he fully expects Concur’s management team and 4,200 global employees to join SAP.

Concur will continue to operate as an independent business and collaborate with Ariba and Fieldglass, McDermott said. SAP bought Ariba, a business-to-business marketplace, in 2012 and Fieldglass, which helps companies manage contract employees, in March.

Danielle Adams, spokeswoman for Concur, said the company has no plans for layoffs at the Bellevue headquarters, which currently houses about 1,000 employees.

“In fact, we are hiring,” she said.

In recent years, Concur has acquired firms complementing its software offerings. In a deal worth $82 million, it bought San Francisco-based TripIt in 2011 to add mobile trip management capabilities to its travel-management platform. Last year it acquired ConTgo, adding new messaging and communication capabilities.

Concur had revenues of $178.4 million in its latest fiscal quarter, compared withSAP’s $5.6 billion in its latest fiscal period. McDermott said that after the deal is complete, SAP’s network will handle $600 billion in transactions per year.

“And heads up, that’s 50 percent more than Amazon, eBay and Alibaba all combined … and there is much more yet to capture,” he said.

Concur stock closed Thursday at $107.90, jumping $21.22, or 19.7 percent, to $129.02 after the market closed. The deal was not announced until after the bell. The stock hit its all-time high in January at $130.39.

SAP shares were unchanged, at $77.35, after the market closed. SAP plans to finance the purchase with a credit facility.

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