Sydney, Australia — January 8, 2015 — Esker, a worldwide leader in document process automation solutions and pioneer in cloud computing, today announces the acquisition of CalvaEDI, the leading French company specialising in computer-based communications in the EDI Transport and Logistics sector.
A Strategic Acquisition
Since its creation in 1997, CalvaEDI has been one of the leading companies to popularise EDI technology in France. By choosing to build its development entirely on recurring revenue related to the use of its platform, CalvaEDI inaugurated a new economic model, very similar to that of cloud-based computing. Similar to Esker, CalvaEDI was able to focus on customer needs rather than technical aspects. Over the years, the company has developed a suite of services specialised for the transportation and logistics market, and has since become the leader in this sector in France.
Based in Paris, CalvaEDI grew sales revenue by more than 5% in 2014. The acquisition represents immediate growth to Esker’s financial performance, given the strong recurring revenue, sound cost structure and high profitability of CalvaEDI. Integration synergies will further strengthen the financial benefits of the merger.
To demonstrate their confidence in the success of the CalvaEDI and Esker alliance, the selling shareholders have committed to a two-year lockup plan for the Esker shares they will receive as compensation for the deal.
EDI at the Core of Intercompany Communications
For over 30 years, EDI has allowed businesses to automatically transmit business information (e.g., orders, invoices, shipping orders, etc.), significantly reducing costs, while increasing the reliability of the data exchanges.
Until now, for reasons related to implementation challenges, EDI has primarily benefited very large companies operating in industries with very high volumes and integration levels (e.g., retail, automotive, chemistry, etc.). The Internet, together with legislative and regulatory changes on the exchange of invoices in the public and private sectors in Europe, makes EDI an essential component of any businesses’ document process automation strategy.
Esker believes that EDI will increasingly complement technologies typically implemented by customers in their automation projects. The company plans to open up the use of these technologies to smaller businesses and to companies in other industries, both through targeted acquisitions and agreements with technology partners.
Light Integration
Given its strong leadership position in its market, CalvaEDI will continue to operate under its own name as a separate entity from Esker. New services will gradually be jointly developed in order to accelerate CalvaEDI’s growth and to offer Esker customers, particularly those who have automated the order-to-cash cycle, the benefit of EDI technology integration.
The transaction is subject to usual audit procedures and is expected to be finalised by April 2015.
About CalvaEDI
CalvaEDI is the leading French company specialising in computer-based communications in the EDI Transport and Logistics sector. Since its creation in 1997, the company has pursued a strategy of developing gateways between the different computer systems of its customers and those of their partners in order to facilitate the transmission, security and traceability of data. CalvaEDI is based in Paris, France and services over 300 customers.