Lawson Buys Freeborders in Merger of Software Cos.
St. Paul, Minn.–based Lawson Software upped the ante in the technology market and acquired San Francisco software company Freeborders, which specializes in PLM (product lifecycle management) software. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
PLM is one of the hottest segments of the information-technology market and one of the most-targeted investments by apparel companies. The software uses a database and the Internet as a point of collaboration between a design company and its trading partners. It provides a so-called “single version of the truth,” allowing companies to streamline their production cycles by putting all specs, designs and materials in one central point of command.
Freeborders has been among the leaders in PLM. Lawson’s strength has been with its business-management systems or ERP (enterprise resource planning) software, which manages post-production steps, while PLM addresses pre-production stages, so it has been Lawson’s missing link to providing an end-to-end solution.
“The Freeborders solution fills a gap we had in meeting our fashion customers’ overall supply-chain needs,” said Bob McKee, industry strategy director, fashion, for Lawson. “We now have a proven PLM solution that our customers can add easily and can work alongside our global fashion solutions.”
Lawson will sell the Freeborders solution as a “Best of Breed” service. Currently, Freeborders serves about 80 customers in the United States, Europe and Asia.
Among the company’s existing joint customers is the Hong Kong–based TAL Group.
“This is good news for customers of Freeborders and Lawson,” noted Dr. Harry Lee, chief executive officer of TAL Group. “It means companies like ours can look to one vendor for our enterprise software and product lifecycle management needs. It also means we will have the power of Lawson focused on the PLM product, given the strategic importance of the fashion industry to Lawson.”
This isn’t the first time Lawson has ventured into the apparel arena for an acquisition. It acquired Swedish rival Intentia three years ago to gain entry into the fashion market.—Robert McAllister
