A majority of Lawson Software shareholders approved the company’s sale to Infor and Golden Gate Capital during a meeting Wednesday, paving the way for the creation of the industry’s third-largest ERP (enterprise resource planning) software vendors after SAP and Oracle.
The US$1.8 billion sale, “is advisable, fair and in the best interest of Lawson stockholders,” CEO Harry Debes said during the brief meeting. Shareholders asked no questions about the deal.
A number of Lawson shareholders had filed lawsuits against the acquisition, saying the $11.25 per share price agreed upon was unfair.
Those legal matters were expected to be settled “on or about June 22,” Lawson said in a filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission last week.
The addition of Lawson will give Infor a strong hand in health-care and human resources software. It would also stand as a major initial milestone for Infor CEO Charles Phillips, a former Oracle co-president who is credited with playing a key role in that vendor’s long string of acquisitions.
Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris’s e-mail address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com