RedPrairie to be acquired

Last December, RedPrairie ([url=http://www.redprairie.com]http://www.redprairie.com[/url]), a supplier of supply chain execution software and No. 5 on Modern 's 2009 Top 20 supply chain management software providers, filed a registration statement with the SEC for a proposed IPO.

That appears to be off the table after RedPrairie recently announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an investment fund affiliated with New Mountain Capital LLC, a New York-based private equity firm with approximately $8.5 billion under management. The deal is expected to close on March 31, according to Mike Mayoras, RedPrairie CEO. The terms of the deal are not public.

“We continue to be registered with the SEC to go public and will remain so until this deal closes,” Mayoras said. “However, we have a signed agreement, and we feel comfortable that the deal will close.”

The sale comes approximately five years after RedPrairie was purchased by Francisco Partners in May 2005. Like Francisco Partners, which had a portfolio of tech companies besides RedPrairie, New Mountain Capital is also a technology and software investor, counting Deltek, a publicly traded provider of enterprise applications for project-management focused companies, among its holdings.

According to Mayoras, a change in ownership should not affect customers. RedPrairie plans to continue rolling out new applications in the supply chain execution space. “New Mountain is not a stranger to the software space,” said Mayoras. “We expect that they will be interested in seeing us execute the strategy for growth that we have outlined, which means more applications and more of a focus on the demand-driven supply chain, from the store back through the warehouse and the factory.”