PeopleSoft to Acquire Distinction Software
PeopleSoft announced today that it plans to acquire Distinction Software Inc. (Atlanta), a small APS vendor specializing in marketing to mid-tier process manufacturers, according to AMR Research (Boston).
PeopleSoft will issue between $5 million and $10 million of stock and options for all outstanding equity of Distinction, with the transaction expected to be completed in the second half of 1999. PeopleSoft is expected to transition Distinction's Supply Chain Management software over the course of a year, starting with its demand planning and forecasting and inventory management software products.
The addition of Distinction's product line is expected to supplement PeopleSoft's own demand planning software by adding capabilities important to consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers. The CPG market currently represents 20 percent of PeopleSoft's manufacturing customer base and about 33 percent of new sales.
In 1Q99 PeopleSoft plans to provide a solution that ties Distinction's Microsoft Access-based products to its Arbor Software ESS database product, according to AMR reports. By 3Q99 it plans to port the products to work with Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 and Oracle 8 to provide greater performance and scalability.
--L. Greenemeier