Concur buys Seeker Software
Concur Technologies says it has acquired Seeker Software, a provider of Web-based human resources self-service applications, in a stock deal worth about $131.8 million.
Redmond, Washington-based Concur makes Web-based software that provides workplace automation and transaction processing. It said with the Seeker acquisition, Concur will be able to offer a suite that includes travel expense management, e-commerce, and HR self-service applications and services integrated into a business portal.
Under the deal, Concur said in a statement that it has issued 3.4 million shares of its common stock to Seeker shareholders in exchange for the entire equity interest in Seeker. Concur said it also assumed all of Seeker's outstanding stock options exercisable for approximately 680,900 shares of Concur common stock. With Concur's closing price on Friday of 32, the deal is worth about $131.8 million.
As part of its strategy to create an integrated business portal for automating employee business processes, Concur said it will incorporate The Seeker Workplace, Seeker's suite of HR self-service Web-based applications into its flagship product, EmployeeDesktop. EmployeeDesktop combines Concur's suite of applications, such as travel expense management and e-commerce, through a common user interface, and also provides a business portal where employees can access information and services.
With this deal, Concur is delivering a single point of contact for employees and managers in order to automate some of their more mundane, daily administrative tasks. It will also allow them to do business in a much more cost effective way and link to suppliers in order to purchase what they need from their desktops, Concur's chief executive Steve Singh said in a conference call to reporters.
In addition, the combined Concur and Seeker suite of applications will deliver individual news as well as corporate news and competitor news to the user's desktop, Concur and Seeker executives said in the conference call.
Both companies said they will benefit from cross selling their products. Currently, Singh said that the clients that are already using both suites include Sprint, Dell Computer, and Bell South. Singh added that the initial integration is beginning now with Seeker icons available on Concur's EmployeeDesktop, and within six months, complete integration will have taken place.
"We're playing a very young market space," Singh said. The majority of the company's revenue comes from new customers, he said. With the Seeker acquisition, Singh said that the company has essentially "redefined" this space and extended its business beyond its competitors.
With the addition of The Seeker Workplace, Concur has licensed its suite of applications to more than 1.5 million desktops in over 225 companies, the company said in a statement.
The 100 Seeker employees will join Concur, but its offices will remain in Oakland, California and operate as a separate division of Concur with a HR focus.
Shares of Concur jumped 4 percent in afternoon trading, ahead 1.25 to 33.25.