IFS has announced it has completed its acquisition of Copperleaf Technologies Inc, a global leader in decision analytics. First announced in June, the deal has now received approval from relevant courts, shareholders, and regulators under the Canadian Competition Act.
The deal sees IFS purchase all outstanding shares from Copperleaf for CAN$12.00, which values the firm at around CAN$1 billion.
Copperleaf shares have previously been worth more than CAN$12.00. However, one has to go back to April 2022 for that to be the case. The high for the shares was CAN$25.89 in October 2021.
This is a huge deal and a significant milestone for IFS as it targets asset-heavy industries. It will also bring a long list of customers to the firm, which IFS will undoubtedly hope to cross-sell its cloud-based platform to over time.
Taking Copperleaf into new markets
IFS plans to extend the Copperleaf solution into new markets and geographies. It has a strong global presence and partner network in six core industries: Aerospace and Defence, Energy, Utilities & Resources, Construction & Engineering, Manufacturing, Service Industries, and Telecommunications.
IFS will combine the Copperleaf advanced capital investment planning solutions with its asset management and finance capabilities. It believes it will create the most complete end-to-end asset lifecycle management solution on the market.
What will be interesting to see is how and how IFS integrates its solutions with the Copperleaf platform. The combination will also enable IFS to deliver more “Moments of Service” to organisations that invest billions or millions of dollars in their asset portfolio.
Mark Moffat, CEO of IFS, described the acquisition as “a watershed moment in the evolution of decision-making for the industries IFS serves.
“By combining Copperleaf’s decision analytics with IFS’s robust enterprise solutions, businesses will be able to make more informed, real-time decisions, giving them a powerful competitive advantage in navigating complex and volatile economic environments with confidence and resilience.”
IFS and Copperleaf are stronger together
In a recent blog, Paul Sakrzewski, CEO of Copperleaf, explained six benefits the company and customers will gain from the acquisition:
- Additional resources and deep expertise to drive more and faster innovation
- Access to additional industries and new markets
- A large installed base of over 6,000 IFS customers currently leveraging Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and Field Service Management (FSM) to manage their asset base
- The opportunity to leverage IFS’ suite of market-leading software solutions to offer seamless end-to-end solutions to our clients
- A vast global ecosystem of trusted advisors and partners in the space where we operate.
Enterprise Times asked IFS what role Paul Sakrzewski will have going forward. Also, will Copperleaf remain an independent business unit or be subsumed into other IFS business units? We will post the responses once received.
It is not just the suite of applications that Clopperleaf will benefit from. IFS will leverage its powerful IFS.ai architecture that underpins the IFS suite further to enhance Copperleaf’s existing asset investment planning capabilities.
The Copperleaf suite of applications enables organisations to optimise capital allocation, manage risk, and drive more precise, data-driven business decisions. The company helps clients to manage over $2.9 trillion in assets worldwide. Its customer base comes from across a wide range of industries.
Network Rail leveraged the platform in the UK to bring together its diverse assets. It now manages tracks and telecoms in a single platform. It has also optimised its £1 billion annual signalling budget by making outcome-based decisions that demonstrate the value of capital investments.
Why this will matter to asset-heavy industrial firms
Major Energy companies such as National Grid and Exelon also leverage the solution. Both the National Grid and Exelon are IFS customers. It will be interesting to see how quickly they are able to combine the two solutions.
National Grid uses Copperleaf to support the UK’s renewable energy transition and manage its ageing critical infrastructure. The result is reduced maintenance costs and improved reliability. It has seen savings of £4.4 million over five years and reductions in network outages worth £2.5 million annually.
Lisa Lambert, Chief Technology Officer & Innovation at National Grid, commented, “When we adopted the Copperleaf solution, we found that we got more accuracy, better decisions. We’re able to optimise our investment selection and timing, to help us focus our capital on the right investment.”
Judi Hess, Vice Chair of the Copperleaf Board of Directors, commented, “our combined capabilities will deliver unparalleled value to customers, enabling them to effectively address today’s complex challenges while strategically preparing for the future.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
This is a significant acquisition and almost certainly the largest by IFS. The combination puts IFS at the forefront of enterprise software and industrial AI. The company has grown rapidly, and this acquisition will put further pressure on SAP in some of its key industries. IFS now has a relationship with many asset-intensive enterprises and a global reach that will, in time, put more pressure on SAP and Oracle in certain industries.
It is a testament to the ambition of its investors and leadership that IFS is making such an acquisition. On the face of it, the two companies have a lot of synergy. This could be a very strong move, with the technology integration already proven at one customer. The challenge will be whether SAP, Infor, or Oracle will react and acquire or build an alternative solution that might jeopardise Copperleaf’s market share.
