Onyx purchase set to breathe new life into Made2Manage

M2M Holdings is jointly owned by Battery Ventures VI, LP and Thoma Cressey Equity Partners, and the deal, due to close in the third quarter of this year, is an all-cash transaction valuing Onyx at around $92 million. Onyx has been in the number four/five slot behind Siebel, now part of Oracle, SalesForce.com and in the UK Sage’s SalesLogix. Until last year it had been loss-making but had turned the corner with a $990,000 profit in 2005. For a company set up by a few Microsoft execs 12 years ago, it’s done rather well – and the truth is it probably had little choice but to sell in order to survive not just the wave of consolidation in the software industry, but the scale of investment needed to compete. “We believe that this transaction is the right decision for Onyx shareholders, customers, partners and employees,” says Onyx chairman and CEO Janice Anderson. “Made2Manage Systems’ equity sponsors each have a strong track record of supporting the growth of their portfolio companies, and we believe will use their proven industry consolidation experience to help Onyx increase its share of the enterprise CRM market.” “Entry into the CRM market enhances Made2Manage Systems’ status as a provider of enterprise software and services to multiple industries,” says Jeff Tognoni, CEO of both M2M Holdings and Made2Manage Systems. Made2Manage Systems claims more than 2,200 customers across manufacturing and distribution industries in 20 countries, and has 13 regional offices across North America, Europe and Asia. In the UK it has gone quiet since the departure of managing director Tom Huckin, who had been building the outpost for the last five years.