Data analysis firm SPSS Inc. has agreed to buy its once-high-flying peer in the online field, NetGenesis Corp., for $44.6 million.
The acquisition is meant to combine Cambridge, MA-based NetGenesis' technology for Internet-based data analysis with SPSS's data mining and predictive analytics for call centers, marketing automation systems and data warehouses.
This deal also is intended to strengthen Chicago-based SPSS's presence in the analytic customer relationship management area.
“Along with its obvious strategic benefits, the NetGenesis acquisition should add between $15 [million] and $20 million in revenues in 2002 and be accretive to earnings by 2003,” Edward Hamburg, executive vice president and chief financial officer of SPSS, said in a statement.
“Our balance sheet will also strengthen with the addition of about $30 million in cash,” he said. “We certainly have a formidable task of identifying the cost savings required to make this acquisition successful, but there are significant synergies between the companies with which to work.”
NetGenesis's technology allows marketers to quantify the return on investment of online efforts like site design upgrades, marketing spending and customer acquisition, conversion and retention.
NetGenesis's 400 clients include Sun Microsystems, General Electric Co., Verizon, Time, Charles Schwab, Fidelity Investments, British Telecommunications and DoubleClick.
Awaiting approval from shareholders and regulatory agencies, the NetGenesis acquisition is expected to close this fourth quarter.
