Cranes Software to acquire Sigma product line from SPSS for $ 13 million

Our Corporate Bureau
12 January 2004

Bangalore: Cranes Software International Ltd. (CSIL), a global scientific and engineering software solutions provider, has said that it will acquire Sigma product line from SPSS Inc. for $ 13 million.

CSIL's fully owned subsidiary Systat Software Inc. has obtained the exclusive worldwide license to distribute the Sigma-series product line (SPL) from SPSS Inc.

In addition to the distribution license, the agreement involves the acquisition of all related customers, personnel, and fixed assets and comes with the option to purchase all related intellectual property, including brand names and trademarks, after three years. The agreement involves an immediate cash payment of US$ 9 million, followed by staggered payments of US$ 3 million in 2004 and US$ 1 million in 2005.

"With the Sigma-series acquisition, Cranes Software is now a significant global player in the scientific software domain," said Asif Khader, managing director, Cranes Software International. "The Sigma range blends seamlessly with our global growth strategy in proprietary products.

We now have a world-class portfolio that offers scope for significant expansion given the extensive base of existing users, the worldwide sales and marketing network, backed by our in-house offshore R&D capabilities. We are continuing the original vision of SPSS in combining the power of the Sigma-series and SYSTAT offerings and these two product lines will be at the foundation of our commitment to provide high-quality, cutting-edge software to scientific researchers around the world." Product details Sigma-series products are used by scientists and engineers for data presentation and analysis, including the flagship SigmaPlot® Offering, SigmaStat® statistical analysis package, and SigmaScan® image analysis software. In addition, Systat will acquire Kinetics Enzyme, a related life sciences module. These offerings are highly complimentary to CSIL's current portfolio in terms of cross-selling potential within existing users and addressable markets. CSIL's current portfolio of scientific and engineering software products includes such leading products as SYSTAT, TableCurve2D, TableCurve3D and PeakFit.

The Sigma product line is designed specifically to meet the requirements of research scientists and engineers, enabling collection, analysis and presentation of scientific data. The product market includes research professionals in a range of fields including life sciences, environmental sciences, medical research chemistry and engineering.