Geac To Buy Extensity

Enterprise resource planning software vendor Geac Computer said last week that it will buy expense reporting and time-card management software developer Extensity for $47 million in cash or stock. The companies expect to complete the deal in November.

Geac, which has made a series of acquisitions in the last five years, including Dun & Bradstreet, JBS Software, and a slate of smaller companies, says buying Extensity can help it expand beyond its primary market for back-office applications.

Geac wants to link its software for managing companies' finance, human-resource, manufacturing, distribution, and supply-chain operations with Extensity's expense-reporting and time-and attendance-management apps, so the vendors' systems can share data. "Here's an application [that Geac] can connect to all its other applications and create new value for customers," AMR Research analyst David Caruso says. "It's a perfect add-on." Extensity's apps already are linked to Geac's mainframe software, thanks to a previous deal. Next up: integrating Geac's Unix and IBM minicomputer apps with Extensity's products.