All-cash deal
Waterloo-based company continues multibillion-dollar growth strategy with latest acquisition of Liaison Technologies
OpenText acquiring U.S. firm for US$310 million
WATERLOO — OpenText is acquiring U.S.-based data management firm Liaison Technologies, the latest in a multibillion dollar series of acquisitions by the Waterloo-based software company.
The all-cash deal, with an estimated at US$310 million, is expected to close in the next quarter.
Liaison provides cloud-based enterprise application integration and data management solutions. The private company, founded in 2001, is headquartered in Georgia and employs 470; it has more than 4,000 global enterprise customers.
OpenText specializes in enterprise information management systems. In a release, the company said it expects the Liaison acquisition will enhance existing offerings and expand its capabilities in areas such as life sciences and health care.
The company also reported financial results for its fiscal first quarter this week. Net income for the period ending Sept. 30 stood at approximately US$36.3 million, compared to roughly US$36.6 million in the same period last year.
Total first-quarter revenues were US$667.2 million, up from last year’s US$640.7 million.
OpenText’s executive vicepresident and chief financial officer Madhu Ranganathan noted in a release that the company ended the quarter with approximately $788 million in cash, “giving us the flexibility to further support our total growth strategy.”
That strategy has seen OpenText make a number of highvalue acquisitions in recent years, with a total spend that’s topped US$3 billion. Earlier this year, the company acquired filesharing firm Hightail, Inc.; the purchase price was not disclosed.
In 2017, OpenText added forensic security software developer Guidance Software, cloud computing firm Covisint Corp., and Dell EMC’s enterprise content division to its ranks. Their 2016 acquisitions included various HP Inc. assets, e-discovery and information analytics firm Recommind Inc. and cloud computing business ANXeBusiness Corp.