When Oracle snapped up Primavera Systems last week, we had to spare a thought for the surviving project and portfolio management (PPM) vendors. That thought almost became the start of a eulogy as we saw Primavera’s publicly traded rival get trounced on the Nasdaq and its direct competitor still out on the market seeking a buyer.
Let’s start with the biggest of the big, Deltek Systems. Since the company, which is majority owned by buyout firm New Mountain Capital, went public a year ago, its shares have lost three-quarters of their value. That has reduced Deltek’s market capitalization to just $190m. Deltek also carries about that same amount of debt, along with a stash of roughly $33m in cash. Altogether, Deltek’s enterprise value is around $350m. That for a company that will do about $300m in revenue this year, including approximately $100m in maintenance revenue, while running at a mid-teens operating margin.
Next is Planview, another privately held PPM vendor. The Austin, Texas-based company is roughly the same size as Primavera, running at about $175m. More than a few sources have indicated that Planview has been for sale for some time, but for whatever reason, it hasn’t found a taker. Not that we imagine it would be prohibitively expensive at this point. If Plainview went for the same valuation as Primavera, it would fetch $350m; pegging the purchase price to Deltek’s current multiple would put it closer to $200m. That’s mere pocket change for IBM, which we hear may have been interested in Primavera, a partner company.