Sage sells 7 non-core products to accelerate growth

The Sage Group plc (“Sage”) announces it has reached agreement to sell seven non-core products for an aggregate price of £93.4m (the “Non-Core Disposals”), of which £81.9m is payable in cash on completion.  The cash proceeds will be returned to shareholders.  Sage will record a loss on disposal following completion of the transaction.
The Non-Core Disposals comprise the sale 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).
Guy Berruyer, Chief Executive, commented:
“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.”
Transaction details
In North America, Sage has reached definitive agreement to sell the trade and assets of Sage ACT! and Sage SalesLogix, the two international CRM products identified as non-core, to Swiftpage, and the trade and assets of Sage Nonprofit Solutions, Sage’s vertical software solutions for not-for-profit organisations, to Accel-KKR.  The consideration is $101.2m (£64.8m*) in aggregate, of which $91.2m (£58.4m*) is payable in cash on completion.  In addition, Sage is receiving a $3m (£1.9m*) seller note from Swiftpage and $7m (£4.5m*) in the form of a 16.1% equity stake in Swiftpage^.  As at 30 September 2012, the related gross assets were £243.1m* and EBITA for the year ended 30 September 2012 was £4.8m^#.
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 requires prior approval from the French Works Council in accordance with French law.  The agreed consideration is €33.2m (£28.6m*) of which €27.2m (£23.4m*) is payable in cash on completion.