SAP: going all the way with CommerceOne?
- Added:
- Jun 29, 2001
It is understood that SAP will gain rights to further shares as well as a board seat but has agreed to seek CommerceOne's approval to raise the stake above 23% or to buy the company.
According to Lazard Capital Markets analyst Saki Ladopoulos, a full acquisition would make sense for SAP, bolstering its presence in the e-marketplace sector: “SAP gained a 35% market share of the ERP market when there weren't many competitors, but it is no longer seen as a growth area. The company has tried to move into the supply chain management and CRM sectors, but it is not the market leader,” he said. According to Lazard estimates, SAP has no more than 4% share in these hotly contested growth areas. According to Ladopoulos, SAP faces strong competition from i2 and Manugistics in the supply chain management sector and Siebel in the CRM space. “I wouldn't discount Oracle either,” he added.
The move builds on a deal struck last summer, when SAP paid $250m for a stake in CommerceOne and bundled MySAP marketplace modules with Commerce One's portal architecture, MarketSite Portal Solution.