Baan cuts stake in Meta4
Troubled enterprise resource Planning (ERP) vendor Baan has sold off another chunk of its investment portfolio as it fights to keep its business on track.
Troubled enterprise resource Planning (ERP) vendor Baan has sold off another chunk of its investment portfolio as it fights to keep its business on track.
The Dutch vendor has sold its 2.4 million minority shareholding in human resources and payroll applications supplier Meta4 to Global Financial Institutions for $40m (£25.4m). Baan bought Meta4 for $22m in January 1998.
The move follows Baan's decision to sell off its Coda financial packages unit for $50m, nearly $40m less than it had originally paid.
However, Baan had written the purchase down on its balance sheets to $20m and the vendor claimed it made a profit on the sale.
Baan also announced last week that it was raising $41m in equity funding to prevent it from being delisted on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.
Rob Ruijter, chief financial officer at Baan, said: "Last week we announced agreements on a debt for equity exchange for $40m in the company's outstanding sub-ordinated notes and the opportunity for further exchanges over the next two months.
"Add to that the sale of our stake in Meta4 and Baan has added more than $60m to its equity balance in just the last two weeks."
Ruijter added: "Baan is in a challenging environment, but it should be made clear to all that the company is taking the steps needed to get its business back on track."
The vendor also claimed that it has extended its non-exclusive reselling agreement with Meta4 for 12 years and has given the reseller about $13m in pre-paid licence and maintenance fees for Meta4's human resources management and payroll applications.
- CODA wins first order
- CODA has won its first major order since being sold off by Baan to UK reseller Science Systems.
The contract with UK Internet service provider Star Internet will provide a complete Net-enabled finance solution which includes CODA E-finance and CODA-Purchasing.
The deal is worth £100,000.