WALLDORF, GERMANY, PARIS, and SAN JOSE, CA (Euronext Paris: ISIN
code FR0004026250 - BOB) by SAP AG (NYSE: SAP), partners of both
companies worldwide voiced their endorsements, further underscoring
the value of the combined offerings and open approach to the
market. The partners issued their statements in conjunction with
today's announcement of the next steps in the pairing that unites
the global market leaders in business software and business
intelligence (see Jan. 16, 2008 press release titled, "SAP and
Business Objects Unite to Lead Emerging Market for Business
Performance Optimization"). The combination of SAP and Business
Objects brings together best-in-class software for performance
management and analytical insight, offering expanded opportunity
for collaboration, innovation, and profitable growth, with the two
market leaders sharing a common vision to transform the way the
world works by connecting people, information and businesses across
networks.
In the strongest evidence yet that SAP's ecosystem strategy is
delivering value to customers, partners, and developers, IDC
recently declared the SAP ecosystem a thriving economy in its own
right. (please see October 1, 2007 press release titled, "Leading
Research Firm Declares SAP Ecosystem an Economy of its Own.") With
the addition of Business Objects' extensive partner network,
developer community and expertise in business analytics, the
vibrancy of this ecosystem is further amplified.
"The tremendous velocity of the SAP ecosystem has ushered in a
new era of collaborative innovation," said Zia Yusuf, executive
vice president, Global Ecosystem and Partner Group, SAP. "Now, with
the acquisition of Business Objects, the expanded ecosystem offers
customers and partners deeper insight and expertise and accelerated
opportunities for collaboration and innovation around governance,
risk, and compliance (GRC), enterprise performance management,
business intelligence (BI), and enterprise information
management."
"The SAP ecosystem brings together SAP, thousands of customers,
partners, communities of developers, and business process experts
to co-innovate industry-leading solutions, access resources, and
share best practices," said Janet Wood, senior vice president,
Global Partnerships, Business Objects. "We are excited about the
opportunities for collaboration around performance optimization and
business analytics, and look forward to expanding the dialog with
this thriving community."
Partners Offer Comments in Support of SAP and Business
Objects
Services Partners:
Accenture
"According to 160 CIOs recently surveyed, more than 75 percent
of organizations plan on having enterprise-wide analytics in three
years time," said Patrick Puechbroussou, managing director for
Accenture's SAP business. "Accenture works with organizations
globally to successfully harness and manage information across the
enterprise: SAP's vision for business performance optimization
aligns with ours. Our experienced practitioners, already familiar
with SAP Business Suite and the Business Objects BI platform, will
develop solutions that enable deeper analysis and drive performance
through more competitive differentiation. And, the positive
partnering environment already in place with both companies means
we are optimistic about our joint business opportunities in this
market."
Capgemini
"Capgemini welcomes the acquisition of Business Objects by SAP.
With this step, business intelligence capabilities are moved from
being adjunct to business processes to core of the business --
something which we describe as the 'Intelligent Enterprise,'" said
Paul Hermelin, CEO, Capgemini. "The combined business has a number
of synergies and opportunities around the very hot market area of
'Performance Management' and we anticipate that this will bring
highly flexible performance management solutions into the market
that will be natively integrated into the operational applications
speeding up the deployment of performance management solutions. We
support this acquisition and look forward to future collaborating
for the benefit of our mutual customers and continuing to deliver
joint value to the market."
Deloitte
"The Deloitte organization welcome SAP's acquisition of BOBJ as
a significant evolution of our strategic alliances with both
companies," said Ainar Aijala, global managing partner for
Consulting at Deloitte. "The combination of the BOBJ business
intelligence platform and applications with SAP's arsenal of
world-class technologies should further strengthen SAP's ability to
provide integrated, architected solutions to help customers meet
their enterprise-wide information needs. The acquisition will
strengthen Deloitte's ongoing collaboration with SAP to help
clients meet information management needs, including but not
limited to GRC and CPM. As well, it will support Deloitte's global
CFO Program, financial excellence and compliance, integrated
performance management, and, more broadly, business intelligence
initiatives at our joint clients."
IBM
"Companies seek to derive greater insight from their corporate
information to help them innovate and drive strong results," said
Volker Loehr, IBM General Manager, SAP Alliance. "As a long-time
partner of both SAP and Business Objects, IBM enhances these
business solutions with a proven, flexible infrastructure including
servers and database technologies as well as industry-specific
process and implementation know-how. Today, this already provides
over 13,000 joint clients with strategic choice, global delivery
capabilities and operational return for their projects and
business."
TCS
"TATA Consultancy Services Limited embraces SAP's acquisition of
Business Objects and sees it as an opportunity to serve additional
customers and extend benefits through the combined offerings and
open approach to the market," said Mr. N. Chandrasekaran, COO, TCS.
"TCS, with its strong industry and domain capabilities, will be
looking forward to leveraging this combination of assets from the
two market leaders and offering innovative solutions to our joint
customers, providing them with significant business benefits."
Wipro
"The combination of business process and analytics applications
will enable a new level of business performance optimization that
customers are asking for," said P R Chandrasekar, president,
Americas & Europe, Wipro. "We look forward to taking advantage
of the expanded service offerings afforded by the union of SAP and
Business Objects which, together with the deep domain experience of
Wipro, will help customers extend the value of their enterprise
applications and improve the business context of information."
Software & Technology Partners:
Adobe
"Today, collaborative decision making is critical for business
users across functions and business processes. We believe SAP and
Business Objects have a compelling vision to meet those needs and
together they will greatly improve how users analyze business data
to make complex decisions more quickly," said David Mendels, senior
vice president, Business Productivity Business Unit, Adobe. "Adobe
has strong relationships with both companies, beginning with SAP in
2003 with SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe and more recently with
Business Objects in 2007 to combine the power of business
intelligence with RIAs. We are excited about partnering with the
newly combined company and joint prospects to revolutionize how
business users engage with corporate information."
Callidus
"Customers are looking for new ways to extend the value of their
enterprise applications and optimize business performance," said
Leslie Stretch, president and CEO, Callidus. "With the union of SAP
and Business Objects, Callidus looks forward to building on the
existing relationship with both companies and sees natural
opportunities to continue to collaborate for the benefit of our
mutual customers."
HP
"HP has enjoyed successful partnerships with both SAP and
Business Objects for many years, and we expect our partnership to
be strengthened with the completion of SAP's acquisition of
Business Objects," said Ann Livermore, executive vice president,
Technology Solutions Group, HP. "With HP's strong portfolio of
business intelligence offerings, we will continue to work with SAP
to provide integrated solutions to help our joint customers solve
some of the most complex information challenges."
Microsoft
"SAP and Business Objects are both longstanding partners of
Microsoft. Our work with SAP has ranged from SAP applications
running on Microsoft Windows and SQL Server to our joint Office
Business Application development with Duet," said Jeff Raikes,
president Microsoft Business Division. "We've partnered with
Business Objects for 15 years on Microsoft Visual Studio and more
recently on the delivery of the Business Objects XI integration kit
for Microsoft SharePoint Server. Microsoft enthusiastically
supports the combination of SAP and Business Objects, and I welcome
the opportunity to build on our joint efforts with these two great
partners as they become one."
Sage
"Business Objects is a long-standing partner of Sage Software,"
said Nina L. Smith, President, Sage Software Business Management
Division. "We applaud SAP's commitment to keep Business Objects an
independent business unit, and we look forward to expanding our
relationship. Together, Sage Software and Business Objects will
continue to deliver tangible value to our mutual customers."
Teradata
"Together, SAP and Business Objects offer a powerful combination
of both a business information platform and a business process
platform enabling companies to translate business insight into
action," said Darryl McDonald, chief marketing officer, Teradata.
"We congratulate them on their new union and look forward to
working together to deliver the best in enterprise analytics to our
mutual customers."
Channel Partners:
Contemporary - The Business Intelligence People, UK
"SAP's acquisition of Business Objects combines the world's
largest business software company with the world's leading BI
software company," said David Whitehead, managing director,
Contemporary - The Business Intelligence People, UK. "This is
exciting news for both existing and future customers looking to
reduce costs, improve performance, and gain the agility to respond
to changing business needs. Their combined strength will result in
new, innovative offerings to meet the growing demands of today's
business users, regardless of company size."
Decision First
"The joint company will link together two vibrant and successful
communities," said Taylor Courtnay, Co-Founder and vice president
of Sales, Decision First. "We are excited at the prospect of
providing enhanced business information solutions and services to a
wider range of customers, regardless of platform."
Dunn Solutions
"We are excited about the opportunity to continue to deliver
powerful BI solutions to our customers -- but with the added
benefit of tighter integration," said Bill Dunn, CEO, Dunn
Solutions. "We also feel comfortable that Business Objects will
continue to support all of our clients, regardless of their
platform, and stay true to its roots."
IDS Scheer
"Together, SAP and Business Objects will offer high-value
solutions for process- and business-oriented professionals," said
Wolfgang K�stler, director MidMarket Solutions Europe. "The
solutions will be designed to enable companies to strengthen
decision processes, increase customer value and create sustainable
competitive advantage through real-time, multi-dimensional business
intelligence. For us, IDS Scheer, this combination will boost our
'ARIS SmartPath solutions for SAP' and will allow us to increase
higher value for our midsize customers."
itelligence
"We are very excited about the acquisition of Business Objects
by SAP and look forward to collaborating to serve the needs of
itelligence's midmarket customers," said Uwe Bohnhorst, COO,
itelligence AG. "The combination of business process and analytics
applications allows non-technical users to dramatically improve the
quality of their decision making by instantaneously and easily
providing the information that they need without having to leave
their every day productivity tools."
Navigator
"We are very excited about the acquisition of Business Objects
by SAP," said Grant Fraser, CEO, Navigator Business One Solutions.
"Particularly with our small enterprise customers, we see a strong
demand for transparency and advanced reporting capabilities -- the
union of those two companies will certainly help us better serve
our customers' needs and expand our user base."
SDG Group
"The biggest opportunity we see is the possibility to extend our
customer base to SAP customers who are not currently using Business
Objects as a BI solution," said Fabio Bombana, partner at SDG Group
in Italy. "The combined company and offering will surely allow us
to improve our positioning and to approach these customers with a
stronger value proposition. We look forward to expanding our
partnership with SAP and Business Objects."
For more information about the SAP acquisition of Business
Objects, please see www.businessobjects.com/SAPacquisition.
About SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software*.
Today, more than 43,400 customers in more than 120 countries run
SAP� applications -- from distinct solutions addressing the needs
of small businesses and midsize companies to suite offerings for
global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver� technology
platform to drive innovation and enable business change, SAP
software helps enterprises of all sizes around the world improve
customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create
efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations.
SAP solution portfolios support the unique business processes of
more than 25 industries, including high tech, retail, financial
services, healthcare and the public sector. With subsidiaries in
more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges,
including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol
"SAP." (Additional information at http://www.sap.com)
(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise
resource planning and related applications such as supply chain
management, customer relationship management, product life-cycle
management and supplier relationship management.
About Business Objects
Business Objects has been a pioneer in business intelligence
(BI) since the dawn of the category. Today, as the world's leading
BI software company, Business Objects transforms the way the world
works through intelligent information. The company helps illuminate
understanding and decision-making at more than 45,000 organizations
around the globe. Through a combination of innovative technology,
global consulting and education services, and the industry's
strongest and most diverse partner network, Business Objects
enables companies of all sizes to make transformative business
decisions based on intelligent, accurate, and timely
information.
Business Objects has dual headquarters in San Jose, Calif., and
Paris, France. The company's stock is traded on both the Nasdaq
(BOBJ) and Euronext Paris (ISIN: FR0004026250 - BOB) stock
exchanges. More information about Business Objects can be found at
www.businessobjects.com.
Any statements contained in this document that are not
historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the
U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such
as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast,"
"intend," "may," "plan," "project," "predict," "should" and "will"
and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to
identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP's
future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings
with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including
SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
This press release contains forward-looking statements
concerning Business Objects' ability to continue to provide
partners the opportunity to collaborate, innovate and benefit from
profitable growth. All forward looking statements are subject to
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from expectations. These potential risks and
uncertainties include, among others, integration-related risks,
customer and partner uncertainty regarding the anticipated benefits
of the transaction, the failure to retain key Business Objects
employees, the failure of SAP and Business Objects to achieve the
anticipated synergies of the acquisition and other risks detailed
in Business Objects' SEC filings, including those discussed in
Business Objects' quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter
ended September 30, 2007, which is on file with the SEC and
available at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Business Objects is
not obligated to update these forward-looking statements to reflect
events or circumstances after the date of this document.
The Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects, Crystal Reports,
Crystal Decisions, Intelligent Question, and Xcelsius are
trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects in the
United States and/or other countries. All other names mentioned
herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Copyright � 2008 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver and other
SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their
respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG
in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All
other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of
their respective companies. Data contained in this document serve
informational purposes only. National product specifications may
vary.
Additional Information
This press release is for informational purposes only and is not
an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell any
Business Objects securities. The complete terms and conditions of
the U.S. offer are set forth in the U.S. Offer to Purchase and
related documentation filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (the "SEC") by SAP France on Schedule TO and the
recommendation of the Business Objects board of directors with
respect to the U.S. offer is set forth in the
solicitation/recommendation statement filed with the SEC by
Business Objects on Schedule 14D-9, as amended. The complete terms
and conditions of the French offer are set forth in the Note
d'Information and Note en R�ponse filed by SAP France and Business
Objects with the French stock exchange authority (Autorit� des
march�s financier, "AMF") which are available on the websites of
the AMF (www.amf-france.org) and respectively SAP France
(www.sap.com) and Business Objects (www.businessobjects.com), and
may be obtained free of charge respectively from SAP France SA and
Deutsche Bank AG, and Business Objects.
Business Objects shareholders and other investors should
carefully read all tender offer materials, including the U.S. Offer
to Purchase and all related documentation filed by SAP AG and SAP
France on Schedule TO, the Schedule 14D-9 and related amendments
filed by Business Objects as well as the Note d'Information and the
Note en R�ponse filed by SAP France and Business Objects because
these documents contain important information, including the terms
and conditions of the tender offers. Business Objects shareholders
and other investors can obtain copies of the tender offer materials
and any other documents filed with the AMF from the AMF's Web site
(www.amf-france.org) or with the SEC at the SEC's Web site
(www.sec.gov), in both cases without charge. Materials filed by SAP
AG and SAP France may also be obtained for free at SAP's Web site
(www.sap.com), and materials filed by Business Objects may be
obtained for free at Business Objects' Web site
(www.businessobjects.com). Stockholders and other investors are
urged to read carefully all tender offer materials prior to making
any decisions with respect to the Offers.
Questions and requests for assistance may be directed to the
Information Agent, Georgeson Inc. (199 Water Street, 26th Floor,
New York, New York 10038-3650; North America Toll Free Number:
(866) 574-4069; Outside North America Collect: (212) 440-9800;
European Toll Free Number: 00800 6570 6570) or the Dealer Manager,
Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. (60 Wall Street, New York, New York
10005; Call Toll Free: (877) 221-7676). Requests for additional
copies of the U.S. offer documents and other materials may be
directed to the Information Agent, and will be furnished promptly
at SAP France's expense. You may also contact your broker, dealer,
commercial bank, trust company or other nominee for assistance
concerning the U.S. offer. SAP France will not pay any fees or
commissions to any broker or dealer or any other person (other than
the Information Agent and the Dealer Manager) for soliciting
tenders of securities pursuant to the U.S. Offer.
The publication or distribution of this press release may be
subject to statutory or regulatory restrictions in certain
countries. The press release is not addressed to individuals
subject to such restrictions, either directly or indirectly.
Receipt of this press release does not constitute an offer in
countries where a tender offer or an offer of securities would be
illegal.
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