Sage offloads key products

Software giant Sage has sold seven products for £93.4m as part of its programme of concentrating on core business.

The cash will be returned to shareholders and Sage will record a loss on disposal on completion of the transaction.

The non-core disposals are made up of three products managed from North America  -Sage ACT!, Sage SalesLogix and the Sage Nonprofit Solutions product suite and four product suites in Europe: C&I, ATL, Automotive and Aytos.

International CRM products Sage ACT! and Sage SalesLogix, have been sold to Swiftpage, and the trade and assets of Sage Nonprofit Solutions, Sage's vertical software solutions for not-for-profit organisations have been bought by to Accel-KKR.

In Europe, Sage has received a binding offer from Argos Soditic for the sale of C&I, ATL and Automotive in France and Aytos in Spain. The sale needs the approval of the French Works Council in accordance with French law.

Guy Berruyer, chief executive said: "The sale of these non-core products is consistent with our strategy of focusing our business to accelerate growth and demonstrates significant progress in streamlining the portfolio, allowing regional management to focus on the considerable growth opportunities within their core markets."

£81.9m is payable in cash on completion and the balance will be in sellers’ notes and equity.

Sage was advised by KPMG’s Northern Corporate Finance and Transaction Services team.

Newcastle KPMG Partner Chris Stott said: “Sage is one of the biggest technology companies in the country and it is positively exciting to advise on such a high profile transaction which highlights the fact that local advisors can deliver on significant, complex, international deals. It is a fantastic example of the regional advisory base helping a global FTSE business deliver on its strategy to create shareholder value."