Oracle to acquire Aconex for $1.6 billion

Melbourne-headquartered cloud construction collaboration and solution provider Aconex is set to be acquired by Oracle for $1.6 billion, the company revealed this morning.

Aconex told investors that it has entered into a binding scheme implementation deed with Oracle, under which the vendor will acquire 100 percent of the shares of Aconex for $7.80 per share.

The $7.80 cash price per Aconex share represents a 47 percent premium on the Aconex closing price of $5.29 last Friday (15 December), a 50 percent premium on the one-month volume weighted average price of $5.19 to 15 December and a 64 percent premium to the three month volume weighted average price of $4.74 to 15 December. 

The deal represents a four-times return on Aconex's 2004 initial public offering of $1.90 per share.

Aconex's board of directors unanimously recommended shareholders vote in favour of the scheme, subject to an independent expert determining the scheme is in the best interests of Aconex shareholders, and less a better offer does not arise.

“The Aconex and Oracle businesses are a great, natural fit and highly complementary in terms of vision, product, people and geography,” Leigh Jasper, Aconex chief executive said.

“As co-founders of Aconex, both Rob Phillpot and I remain committed to the business and are excited about the opportunity to advance our collective vision on a larger scale, and the benefits this combination will deliver to our customers.”

Mike Sicilia, general manager for Oracle's construction and engineering global business unit, said: “Delivering projects on time and on budget are the highest strategic imperatives for any engineering and construction organisation. With the addition of Aconex, we significantly advance our vision of offering the most comprehensive cloud-based project management solution for this $14 trillion industry.”

Aconex chairman Adam Lewis said Oracle's offer represented "a significant premium and a high degree of certainty of value to shareholders through the cash offer and limited conditionality". 

Aconex will prepare an advisory booklet to be delivered to shareholders in Febraury 2018, which will be followed with a meeting in March during which shareholders will have the opportunity to cast their vote on the scheme. Should the vote be successful, the scheme is expected to be implemented in the first half of 2018.