Hexagon Shakes Up The Industrial Asset Operations And Maintenance Management Market With Its Monster $2.7 Billion Acquisition Of Infor EAM

Hexagon Shakes Up The Industrial Asset Operations And Maintenance Management Market With Its Monster $2.7 Billion Acquisition Of Infor EAM

Hexagon AB, a sensor, software and autonomous solution vendor headquartered in Sweden, has had an aggressive M&A strategy for the last several years, with 29 acquisitions since 2016 to strengthen its suite of software applications for design, construction and operation of industrial facilities. The announced plan to acquire Infor’s EAM business along with its previous acquisitions of j5 International, a control of work software provider and PAS Global, a provider of operational technology (OT) integrity solutions in 2019 and 2020 respectively, will help Hexagon deliver a holistic set of solutions to help customers digitally transform their activities for maintenance, turnarounds, process safety management and safe work processes.

An additional motivation for the acquisition comes from Infor’s parent company, Koch Industries. Infor has worked closely with its parent entity to underpin the latter’s digital transformation over the last several years. The improved capabilities offered by the combined entity will enable the continued momentum of Koch’s digital transformation initiative. The acquisition also includes Koch Equity Development, Koch’s investment arm, gaining a minority share in Hexagon AB and a seat on the board, placing it in a position to influence future strategy and align with its growth plans.

This transaction brings together Hexagon’s digital reality solutions that provide a visual twin that underpins remote and connected operations with Infor’s EAM that includes maintenance scheduling, condition monitoring and predictive maintenance capabilities, positioning the new entity to compete with the likes of IBM Maximo and SAP to deliver an end-to-end solution for asset management. This is the latest signal that the industrial asset management software landscape offerings are converging, driven by customer appetite for a single platform to manage their entire portfolio of assets and associated personnel and processes.