Autodesk today announced its intent to acquire Robobat, a privately held company based in Grenoble, France that specializes in analysis, design, and steel and concrete detailing software for the structural engineering industry. The price will be approximately $42.5 million in cash, subject to a working capital adjustment. This the second time Autodesk has announced the intention of buying Robobat. A similar move in 2006 was stopped before consummation by Autodesk. Robobat technology supports Autodesk’s continued expansion of its building information modeling (BIM) agenda. Autodesk says it will develop structural analysis and detailing solutions based on the acquisition that expand its BIM capabilities.
Robobat has existing co-development agreements in place with ANSYS (manufacturing analysis), COADE (process and power plant engineering) and Tekla (structural engineering). There was no word from either Autodesk or Robobat on the future of these arrangements.
“Over the past year Autodesk and Robobat have continued to work closely on product integration and to resolve the business issues that prevented Autodesk from completing the acquisition in 2006,” said Jay Bhatt, senior vice president, Autodesk AEC Solutions. “We look forward to finally integrating these new solutions into our portfolio while continuing to invest in our relationships with other structural analysis partners around the world.”
Autodesk says it will provide further details about the acquisition once the transaction has closed. The transaction is expected to decrease targeted GAAP earnings per diluted share by $0.01 in fiscal 2008 and $0.01 in fiscal 2009.
--RSN