Everybody knows Oracle is hungry. It has acquired more companies than any other technology firm in the last five years. To gain insight on what companies might be next,
Peter Goldmacher of
Cowen and Company screened a long list of software companies with deep vertical specialization which are traded publicly and have annual sales between $50 million and $1 billion. As reported yesterday in Barron's Online, ("
Oracle: What It Might Buy; What It Won't Buy") two companies in plant design and M&O made the list:
AVEVA and
Aspen Technology.
AECnews contacted Goldmacher for clarification. "We ran a generic stock screen and parsed out application vendors with deep vertical specialty," Goldmacher said. "Those two names popped up." Goldmacher was quick to add he was not building the list from insider info."I have no idea on the specifics of any Oracle deal."
The Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) sector has become a popular acquisition target of late, with manufacturing giant
Siemens acquiring UGS,
Oracle acquiring Agile, and
SAP making an investment in visual collaboration specialist
Right Hemisphere. Although Goldmacher's list was based on size and the vertical nature of the firms, it does make sense that Oracle would want a piece of the hot plant design/M&O sector.
--RSN