May 2009

“You Should Always be Grooming Your Business for Sale Even When it is not “FOR SALE”

If you are not constantly "grooming" your business to be sold then you have already sold it. To yourself! And guess what? You have probably bought a dud!

The idea that the company should constantly be grooming itself to be sold, even when the prospect of selling the company may not be on the agenda, is, I believe, a very good one.

How does an outside assessment of your business make you feel?

The Captain of any ship knows the danger of seeing just “The Tip of the Iceberg”

So Open Text have bagged Vignette and the last large, independent ECM player is about to melt away!

Is that good news or bad news for the industry?

For the industry analysts it is probably bad news, since the small visible tip of the industry that they viewed (and most other industry "experts") has just got smaller.

Is that good news or bad news?

Open Text to Acquire Vignette

It was announced today that Open Text will acquire Vignette. They have entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which Vignette will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Open Text. Vignette shareholders will receive US $8.00 in cash plus 0.1447 of an Open Text common share for every Vignette common share which equates to approximately US $12.70 at close of market on May 5, 2009. This represents a premium of approximately 74% above the 30 trading day average closing price of Vignette's shares and approximately 41% above the most recent closing price.

Acquisition Opportunity - a European-based BPM company seeks buyer

Reference: 4AQRVA-5
Positioning Statement:
A pioneering company that enables their clients to get all of their stakeholders (management, employees plus external parties) to operate exactly according to agreed processes/rules. Their solution ensures that everyone involved in the company understands precisely their role, tasks, responsibilities and how they are expected to communicate and how to share knowledge.

Acquisition Opportunity – European ECM Company specializing in Advanced Document and Content Production Seeks Buyer

Reference Number: 4VDEG-5 for correspondence
Positioning Statement:
A pioneer and leading Technology Company in customer communication management with their advanced document production solution. They specialize in solutions with high complexity, high volume or interactive productions but most importantly, the entire production, both batch and interactive, is fully workflow controlled and processed with no reliance or need for desk top software such as MS Office.

Region: Europe