RedPrairie To Acquire JDA Software To Battle Oracle, SAP

Shares of JDA Software (Nasdaq: JDAS) soared 17 percent after the supply chain specialist agreed to be acquired by private RedPrairie Corp. in a $1.9 billion deal.

The enlarged RedPrairie will be a bigger competitor to giants Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) and Germany's SAP (NYSE: SAP), both leaders in the sector.

RedPrairie, of Alpharetta, Ga., has been backed by private equity specialist New Mountain Capital of New York City, which together said they would offer $45 per share for JDA Software, of Scottsdale, Ariz., one of the most prominent providers of software to retailers and manufacturers.

In Thursday afternoon trading, JDA Software shares rose $6.63 to $44.78.

JDA's CEO, Hamish Brewer, will be CEO of the enlarged company, while RedPrairie CEO Michael Mayoras will become a director.

RedPrairie's senior managers include alumni of Peoplesoft, now a part of Oracle, as well as Progress Software (Nasdaq: PRGS). Among its directors is former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who mounted a bid for the Republican nomination for president this year.

Oracle and SAP in the past have battled over supply chain companies, including Retek, won by Oracle for $630 million in 2005.

Popular consumer products such as the iPhone 5 from Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), the world's most valuable technology company, have illustrated the importance of management ability to track each component in a product.

The JDA Software deal leaves several smaller companies that could be acquired by others, including Israel's Retalix (Nasdaq: RTLX), whose shares rose 2 percent to $20.01, and SPS Commerce (Nasdaq: SPSC), of Minneapolis, whose shares rose a nickel to $36.30.