Contact: Alan Pelz-Sharpe Matt Mullen Scott Denne
Accel-KKR makes its second move into Web content management (WCM) in as many days with the acquisition of EPiServer. As the faster-growing of the two, EPiServer likely traded hands at a higher multiple than Ektron, which Accel-KKR bought yesterday.
Ektron has had a difficult few years. The company went from a peak of 300 employees to about one-third of that today. It has also undergone turmoil at the top, losing senior executives in the process. But it would be too easy to portray this as simply a case of bad management, since the WCM sector has also been in turmoil and many players have just fallen off the map. Ektron has remained a well-regarded and visible player, especially within .Net IT environments.
EPiServer, in contrast, has plotted a steady and modest course of growth over the past few years, pushing toward $50m in revenue and continuing to build the partner network that characterized its go-to-market model.
The WCM market went from hugely hyped and overvalued in the early 2000s to an arena that has been ravaged by low-cost ‘good enough’ alternatives as well as buyer obstinacy in staying on old platforms, due to the complexity and risk of moving. Those high-end customers are starting to migrate, but their tastes and requirements have gone from encompassing the largely commoditized Web publishing use cases that previously predominated, to supporting social media, e-commerce and deeper personalization and mobility.
There are no indications yet that EPiServer, Ektron and North Plains Systems (a digital asset manager that Accel-KKR bought in 2011) will be operated as anything other than separate entities, but a combination of all three would create a mature, reputable organization with many cross-selling opportunities. Each party has – to varying degrees – existing global presences, so a combined entity would have a considerable head start over newer entrants.
Subscribers to 451 Research’s Market Insight Service can access a more detailed report on Ektron’s sale here and will find a Deal Analysis on Accel-KKR’s EPiserver buy in tomorrow’s sendout.
For more real-time information on tech M&A, follow us on Twitter @451TechMnA.