Apax Partners to acquire Epicor and Activant Solutions; includes Activant's Yardley-based Prophet 21 business

Private equity firm Apax Partners has agreed to acquire Epicor and Activant Solutions for a total value of about $2 billion, and plans to merge the two companies. The move will create a larger player in the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) market.


Although no specific price was given for the Activant purchase, the price for Epicor is $12.50 per share, or about $1 billion, so presumably the Activant price was also in the $1 billion range. California-based Activant acquired Yardley-based Prophet 21 in 2005 for $215 million, and Prophet 21 is still a major component of its business. Prophet 21 provides ERP software for distributors, and was founded by John and Dorothy Meggitt in 1967.

Epicor’s revenue for FY 2010 were $440 million, while Activant reported revenue of $378 million in 2009