CA snaps up Concord for $350m

Serial acquirer Computer Associates has announced its latest purchase – a $350m deal for network service management software firm Concord.

The $17 per share deal – plus $20m of debt - is the latest acquisition by CA and is pending regulatory approval which the firm expects to breeze through in the next 90 days.

CA CEO John Swainson claims the deal will enable CA to offer the broadest enterprise systems management offerings in the industry.

The deal will certainly enable CA to reduce time to market with products catering for emerging technologies. Concord's service management offering includes complete management of VoIP and wireless networks for example.

To date Concord has enjoyed strong growth in the telecoms market with its eHealth technology, providing network performance metrics and management and predictive capacity planning.

Speaking on a webcast announcing the deal Yogesh Gupta, CTO of CA, said he believes the two companies have a good fit and is looking forward to bringing Concord staff in-house.

He said beyond product and IP, Concord offers "technical people who are extremely important".

He said it is important CA maintains "a phenomenal retention rate" as it did with staff of another recent acquisition, Netegrity.

"We really want these folks to stay with us," he added.

Jack Blaeser, CEO of Concord, said in a statement: "This acquisition is expected to be a big win for Concord's customers. Concord's intelligent software solutions with CA's Unicenter suite of management products will create a powerful and unique resource to address the evolving challenges of organisations that depend on the reliable, efficient operation of highly complex IT environments."