The mooted bid by Per Johan Claesson, non-exec director and near-20% stakeholder of mid-market ERP firm K3 Business Technology Group, seemed a sound move for both sides in my view (see Claesson looks to K3 for hosting panacea). Alas, it is not to be, for the usual reason, i.e. price. Leads me to wonder whether, perchance, there may be a better offer on the table?
By the way, there was an interesting twist to K3’s recent acquisition of Integrated Business Systems (IBS) from troubled peer Maxima (see K3 buys a bit of Maxima). A more thorough trawl through the annals revealed that K3 had sold IBS to Azur (which acquired Maxima back in 2001 – see here) in March 2004 for £2.5m. At the time, IBS was turning over some £2.6m. The buy-back was for (max.) £1.4m, roughly where IBS’ revenues are today. ‘Nuff said!