GEAC Buying Comshare

Enterprise application vendor GEAC Computer Corp. is buying Comshare Inc., a developer of financial-planning, budgeting, and forecasting apps, in a deal valued at $52 million. GEAC plans to combine Comshare's software with its own to strengthen its business-performance management product line.

The planned acquisition is the latest in a spate of consolidations in the software industry. GEAC says Comshare's MPC product line, which also includes financial-consolidation, -reporting, and -analysis capabilities, is an important step in its efforts to assemble a complete suite of front-office apps. GEAC plans to integrate Comshare's software with its existing products using its application-integration framework, the company says.

GEAC's $4.60-per-share offer has already been approved by Comshare's board. The companies expect to conclude the deal in August.

GEAC's move is similar to Cognos Inc.'s acquisition of Adaytum Inc. earlier this year. As Cognos did with the Adaytum deal, GEAC is trying to expand its business-performance management capabilities by acquiring Comshare. Business-performance management (also called corporate and enterprise performance management) links a company's operational and financial processes with management, planning, and control applications.