CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
11 November 2004
Acquisitions
IFS to Collaborate With Software Provider Bentley, Which Will Acquire IFS' CAD Applications
IFS will collaborate with Bentley Systems, Incorporated. Bentley, which has its headquarters in the U.S., will acquire IFS' CAD applications for process, electrical, piping, and instrumentation design. As part of the acquisition, Bentley will assume responsibility for IFS' maintenance and support services for more than 100 accounts, primarily in Sweden and Norway, which employ IFS' CAD applications. The agreement with Bentley is expected to have a positive impact on earnings totaling approximately SKr6m 2004 and 2005.
Users of IFS' CAD applications operate mainly in the pulp and paper and power generation industries. The CAD applications are integrated with IFS Applications, which the users employ mainly for asset maintenance and spare parts logistics. IFS users will be offered the opportunity to change their existing CAD systems to solutions from Bentley while retaining the tight integration with IFS Applications. The agreement with IFS will provide Bentley with a large Swedish user base in these industries as a complement to its existing users in the region, among which is the Swedish National Rail Administration. For IFS, the agreement means that it will collaborate with Bentley worldwide to market and sell IFS Applications to asset-intensive companies.
"The agreement with Bentley is a further step in our strategy of increasing collaboration with partners in order to boost license sales," said Michael Hallén, CEO of IFS. "In addition, we will streamline our operations. Our customer base is too small to develop our own CAD applications in the long term, and we do not have enough specialists outside the Nordic region to effectively sell and support CAD applications globally."
With more than 22,000 accounts, Bentley has a strong market position in the design, engineering, construction, operation, service, and maintenance of capital-intensive operations, which include, among others, process plants and utilities, as well as water and waste treatment plants, railways, and airports. Because IFS also prioritizes these segments, the companies complement each other and can combine to offer users a more comprehensive solution.
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