Battle of the MS-PEGGIES is over

Well, that was quick. Seems the idea of Private Equity Group (PEG)-funded takeover shops based on Microsoft technology (MS-PEG, get it?) was so compelling that its two leading practicioners have rushed into each other's arms. Technically, it's Made2Manage (Capri, DTR, ADS, Cimnet, AXIS, Encompix, and most recently Onyx) who is acquiring Intuitive (SupplyWorks, Relevant/INFIMACS).

Also disappointingly, this breaks M2M's streak of acquiring vendors with the letter X in the name.

So we're down to one MS-PEGGY. Sigh. I had such hopes for the acronym. I guess this just begs the question - who will be M2M's Kermit? Is Infor still hungry?

This all stopped making sense for customers a long time ago. Now it's clearly down to the economics of milking revenue streams and eliminating overhead - which is a decidedly short-term proposition, with an eye toward a financial exit. So I repeat, it begs the question: As customers get more and more worried, and defect to (ahem) more compelling options from the world of open source, who's going to buy these things after the attrition?

Update: Here's Managing Automation on the deal, which suggests the purchase price was somewhere in the $40 millions, nearly 4x revenue.

M2CRM

So the MS-PEGGY managing Made2Manage has entered a white knight bid for Onyx CRM. Good news for the Onyx board, who didn't really like CDC's offer and subsequent behavior. Managing Automation coverage here, local Seattle angle here.

But get this from the Onyx CEO. I've got to hope she was misquoted somehow:

With stronger monetary support from Battery Ventures and Thoma Cressey, the deal would make Onyx a larger player in the business, Anderson said. Customers need to have competition in the realm of enterprise product lines.

"I think that this kind of consolidation ... is very good for clients because clients need choices," she said.

Umm... don't rollups like the MS-PEGGIES give clients fewer choices?

Updated Graveyard Scorecard

We've brought the official ERP Graveyard Scorecard (TM) up to date with the latest activity, particularly the InforSSA grab. Comments and suggestions, welcome as always. Some of our Tier 2 / Tier 3 distinctions are probably debateable ... but we stand by our characterization as everyone but Microsoft (and OpenMFG of course) as "Infor bait."

Odd comment from Plattner

SAP co-founder Hasso Plattner raised a few eyebrows today when he said he could only envision being acquired by IBM, Microsoft, or Google (News.com) Who else has that kind of market cap? I guess he could have mentioned Wal-Mart or Exxon Mobil, if they want to put some of those profits to good use :)

The Inforssa!

Wow. In a clear bid to settle the question of who's #3, Infor Global is acquiring SSA Global. The combined entity will be called The Global Inforssa Global. Here's a quick link. Here's more from Managing Automation.