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

IBS Webinar: NetStore is the self-service web channel for buyers and sellers

Thursday, August 4, 2011 at 1:00PM to 1:30PM EDT

IBS NetStore is an e-business application that provides you fast, easy, low-cost access to new markets. It gives your customers immediate answers for order-related questions, thanks to its complete integration with IBS Enterprise or your existing ERP system.

During this webinar you will see how NetStore:

• Provides a self-service web channel for purchases, service, incident reports, and even returns or quote requests.
• Connects to social media.
• Supports mobility of your salesforce and buyers with iPad and Droid usability.
• Has Google style product search with image, video, animation viewing capability for multi-item comparisons or multi-field searches.
• Allows online customer registration, credit check, and credit card authorization.
• Gives real-time pricing and availability with automatic e-mail confirmation.

NetStore improves the customer experience which increases customer satisfaction and loyalty while lightening the load on your current staff to allow focus on the more complex sales activities.

Join IBS for 30 minutes to see how IBS NetStore can also provide account status information including current balance, credit, outstanding payments, and A/R agreements all while you track website visitor behavior like the number of visits, last visit, average session, interrupted orders or transactions per hour.

To register, visit: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/144592057?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonv6rKZKXonjHpfsX67OksWaCg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YIERcd0dvycMRAVFZl5nQVaCQ%3D%3D