The Sage Group plc (FTSE: SGE), which claims to be the leader in accounting, financial, HR and payroll tech for SMEs, announced that it has agreed to acquire Brightpearl, a Cloud native multichannel retail management system for retailers and wholesalers.
At Sage, the company aims to “transform the way people think and work, enabling their organizations to thrive.” Every day, all around the world, more than 11,000 colleagues and local networks of accountants and partners “support and enable business builder success.”
Sage is focused on integrated accounting, payroll and payment systems, “supporting the ambition of the world’s entrepreneurs.”
Like many of the businesses they serve, Sage started as a small business and has “grown beyond what seemed imaginable,” the firm claims. Today, “over 11,000 employees now support millions of entrepreneurs across more than 20 countries as they power the global economy.”
They help drive today’s business builders “with a new generation of solutions to manage everything from money to people.”
Their social and mobile tech offers live information so you can “make fast, informed decisions anytime and anywhere in the world.” They support their business builders for life by “offering choice, support, expertise and innovation.” They also aim to “champion your causes and provide … advice and support when you need it most.”
The acquisition of Brightpearl, in which Sage currently maintains a 17% minority stake, “accelerates Sage’s strategy for growth, including scaling Sage Intacct, broadening the value proposition for mid-sized businesses and expanding Sage’s digital network,” according to an update shared with Crowdfund Insider.
With operations in the United States and the United Kingdom, Brightpearl offers a software-as-a-service (SaaS)-powered retail operating system, “enabling real-time business insights and helping customers automate workflows to save time and money.”
The announcement further noted that this combination of Sage Intacct and Brightpearl will create a “powerful solution for retailers and wholesalers which integrates financial management, inventory planning, sales order management, purchasing and supplier management, CRM, fulfilment, warehousing and logistics management.”
As noted in the update, the consideration “for the 83% of Brightpearl that Sage does not already own is $299m (£225m), which will be funded from Sage’s existing cash and available liquidity.”
For the year ending December 2021, Brightpearl is expected or on track to “generate revenues of $27m (£20m), representing growth of around 50% compared to the prior year, and to achieve operating profit around the breakeven level,” the announcement revealed.
The transaction is currently “subject to regulatory clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act in the US, and is expected to close in January 2022,” the update confirmed.