RedPrairie to acquire JDA for roughly $1.9 billion

Supply chain and logistics software and technology providers RedPrairie and JDA Software announced today that two companies and its affiliates have entered into a definitive merger agreement.

Officials from RedPrairie and JDA said that RedPrairie will acquire all outstanding shares of JDA stock for $45 per share, which they said represents a 33 percent premium to JDA’s stock price as of October 26, which they said was the day before rumors suggested JDA was looking to be sold. The total value of the transaction is roughly $1.9 billion and it is expected to close by the end of this year.

JDA CEO Hamish Brewer is expected to lead the combined company as CEO, and RedPrairie CEO Michael Mayoras will serve on the board of the combined company.

RedPrairie and JDA officials said that the combined entity will “offer a broad portfolio of solutions and services to manage global supply chains—from raw materials, to finished products, into the hands of customers—through any channel.”

Brewer said in a statement that it will give businesses the power to better manage global commerce through a whole new world of capabilities, with the combined company having a unique ability to address its customers’ increasingly complex needs with various solutions for planning and execution across the entire value chain.

Industry experts said that there are strong synergies between the two companies as RedPrairie has a strong retail presence, especially inside the four walls of the retail store, due in part to its acquisition of BlueCube Software, whom focused on retail site and headquarters operations, in 2006.

And JDA has a very strong set of retail supply chain planning applications, including inventory optimization, demand planning and network optimization. Some of that was core to JDA and some as a result of its acquisitions of Manugistics and i2. JDA also has a strong set of transportation/logistics applications and what they don’t have is inside the four walls warehouse management, which RedPrairie brings.

An industry source estimated that combined revenues will be in the $1 billion to $1.2 billion range, which would make them the largest best of breed provider of supply chain management software, and make them about 3 times the size of Manhattan Associates. The source added that they will be as big as, perhaps slightly larger, than Oracle’s supply chain management practice but not as big as SAP’s.