HONG KONG, ATLANTA, SYDNEY - 9 February 2009 - Praxa’s parent company, CDC Software, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CDC Corporation and a provider of industry-specific enterprise software applications and business services, today announced it has signed a binding term sheet to acquire WKD Solutions Ltd., a leading provider of supply chain event management and business activity monitoring (BAM) solutions that helps enterprises improve their supply chain visibility and support their governance, risk and compliance requirements.
Privately-held Surrey, U.K.-based WKD Solutions markets its products under the Categoric Software brand. This acquisition is subject to several standard closing conditions including the receipt of approval from the Board of Directors of CDC Software and the satisfactory completion of due diligence by CDC Software. Under an OEM agreement, Categoric's supply chain event management technology has been used in CDC Software's Catalyst product line for several years.
In the event the acquisition is completed, Categoric's solutions, including real time alerting, process automation, corrective action tracking, and key performance indicator (KPI) dashboards, are expected to be integrated into the CDC Supply Chain solutions. CDC Software believes these solutions will help enterprises make better informed business decisions, quickly address problem areas and allow them to fully-exploit emerging business opportunities. Categoric solutions specifically provide real time information about the status and results of various operations, help predict issues before they arise, and alert users on exceptions or problems, such as delayed shipments and damaged goods, so corrective action can be taken immediately. Categoric solutions also provide a unified framework that helps enable enterprises to respond quickly and efficiently for governance, risk and compliance requirements, as well as support for non-financial issues and risks such as environmental, social and ethical oversight.
"We are excited to be pursuing this acquisition since we took a break to concentrate on integrating our prior acquisitions and rightsizing our platform," said Peter Yip, CEO, CDC Software. "We believe now is the time to return to our prior "focus, acquire and grow strategy" through mergers and acquisitions that help expand the breadth of our enterprise applications and fill the technology opportunities in our product roadmap. This planned acquisition makes good business sense given the significant success we have already enjoyed under our OEM relationship with WKD Solutions and its strategic fit in our product strategy. "
Commenting on the benefits CDC Software's supply chain technology delivers to the market, Yip added, "CDC Supply Chain has been helping customers address rising costs in their supply chain during the recessionary market conditions within their industry. In today's increasing collaborative business environment, enterprises also must have full visibility into their operations so they can identify and respond to problems in their supply chain before it affects their bottom line. We believe that the integration of Categoric technology with CDC Supply Chain will provide customers with a compelling supply chain solution that helps to ensure the timely and profitable movement of product from demand to consumption. "
"We were one of the first companies to develop a proactive business management solution that incorporated real time alert technology, and we are excited with the prospect of bringing this innovative technology and our extensive expertise to one of the leading supply chain providers in the industry," said Kevin Noakes, CEO of WKD Solutions. "We believe that the combination of Categoric technology with CDC Supply Chain will help deliver information an enterprise needs to optimize performance throughout their supply chain."