IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) has agreed to acquire cloud analytics company DemandTec, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMAN) for $13.20/share, or a total of about $440 million after cash adjustments. DemandTec shares closed at $8.43 yesterday, indicating that IBM is paying a premium of about 57%.
IBM plans to include DemandTec’s products in its Smarter Commerce program, and said that the software opportunity alone in that program is about $20 billion. According to IBM’s press release:
The acquisition of DemandTec … [adds] cloud-based price, promotion and other merchandising and marketing analytics to help companies better define the best price points and product mix based on customer buying trends.
DemandTec claims global retail and consumer products companies among its 450 or so customers. The company also says it holds 31 patents in pricing, response analysis, and promotion analysis.
DemandTec has about 350 employees and the company will be integrated into IBM’s software group. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012, subject to the usual closing conditions and approval from DemandTec shareholders.
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