Apax Partners Puts Epicor Software on the Block

Epicor Software Corp., a private-equity owned company that assists other firms with sales and supply-chain management, is on the block and seeking as much as $3.5 billion, said people familiar with the matter.

The company, purchased by London-based buyout firm Apax Partners for around $1.04 billion in 2011, is working with Jefferies Group LLC to seek buyers. Valuations for the company differ, but people around the deal say Epicor could fetch between $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion, including debt.

Epicor, based in Austin, Texas, serves the distribution, manufacturing, retail and services industries world-wide. It posted sales of $978.3 million in 2013 and carries about $1.3 billion in debt, according to public filings.

After purchasing Epicor, Apax merged it with another rival software-maker, Activant Solutions Inc., which was previously owned by Hellman & Friedman LLC, JMI Equity and Thoma Bravo LLC. In 2012, Epicor paid $155 million to acquire another smaller rival, Solarsoft Business Systems, from Marlin Equity Partners.

In 2012 and 2013, Epicor issued $340 million and $350 million of new debt respectively, to fund dividends to its private-equity owner, according to S&P Capital IQ LCD. 

A sale of Epicor would follow private-equity deals involving similar software companies. Earlier this year, Blackstone Group LP and GIC Private Ltd. paid $750 million for a minority stake in human-resources software company Kronos Inc. in a deal that valued the company at $4.5 billion including debt. And in late 2013, Hellman & Friedman acquired insurance software maker Applied Systems Inc. for $1.8 billion including debt.

Write to Mike Spector at mike.spector@wsj.com, Gillian Tan at gillian.tan@wsj.com and Dana Mattioli at dana.mattioli@wsj.com

Epicor Releases New Version Of Eclipse ERP For Wholesale Distributors

Epicor Software Corporation announced the general availability of version 8.7.7 of its wholesale distribution enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, Epicor Eclipse. The new version delivers enhancements designed to further streamline business processes for distributors, leading to increased productivity and enriched customer experience. Epicor Eclipse now features EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) 810 improvements, Small Project Job enhancements, and Lien Tracking improvements, as well as the ability to track customer-owned inventory, create central Purchase Orders (POs) “on the fly,” and automatically assign lot numbers and print lot labels. Additionally, a new core process has been introduced to handle customer-owned inventory, known as Direct Through Stock (DTS) Inventory. The process begins with the original quote and goes through creating Direct Through Stock purchase orders. A new Direct Through Stock Queue populates the Epicor Eclipse database with all of the sales order, purchase order, and product information. Using the Direct Through Stock Queue, distributors can create shipments to send material to customers.

For more information, please visit www.epicor.com.