Agile buys fellow PLM maker Eigner

Agile Software Corp. is purchasing fellow PLM (project lifecycle management) maker Eigner, whose software Agile intends to use to fill out its product portfolio.

Free IT resource Hear how top CIOs turn change into a competitive advantage. Sponsored by HP Free IT resource Attend the SOA Executive Forum: Breaking SOA Bottlenecks SOAExecForum.com/may2007 Sponsored by InfoWorld

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but will be announced within 30 days, once the acquisition closes, according to Chris Wong, Agile's executive vice president of corporate strategy and development.

San Jose, California-based Agile hopes to use Eigner's European market share to expand its global operations. Based in Waltham, Massachusetts, Eigner was founded in Karlsruhe, Germany, where it maintains its largest office. Agile will make Karlsruhe its European development center, Wong said.

Eigner adds a staff of 150 to Agile's 400 employees. The headcount of the combined company will be cut 10 percent as redundant positions are eliminated, according to Wong.

Agile intends to merge the technical foundations of the Agile PLM and Eigner PLM suites, but that integration will take up to 18 months, Wong said. Meanwhile, Agile will continue selling the products independently to the different customer bases served by each.

"We'll continue to invest in their product and product lines," he said. "There's not a lot of overlap in our products or customers."

Agile and Eigner have complementary geographic and technical strengths, according to AMR Research Inc. analyst Kevin O'Marah, who issued a research note applauding the acquisition

While Agile's customer base is focused in the U.S. and Asia, Eigner's is almost entirely Europen, and while Agile's strength is in medical device and electronics PLM, Eigner's products are tailored to the automotive and aerospace markets, O'Marah wrote.

Agile also reported Tuesday that it expects its financial results for its most recent quarter to come in slightly below analyst expectations. Revenue was around $18.2 million in the quarter ended July 31, Agile said. The consensus estimate of analysts polled by Thomson First Call called for revenue of $18.5 million.