Shareholder consortium offers £400m to save Baan

A consortium of 22 shareholders has put in a rival bid to save troubled ERP software company Baan.

The Dutch vendor was expected to be sold to Invensys for a divestiture of its assets. But according to reports in Dutch newspapers, a group of shareholders have offered to inject E625m (£400m) into the beleagured company in an attempt to keep it afloat. The offer is much lower than the E762m (£487m) offered by Invensys.

Reports claim the shareholders intend to use their 19.6 per cent stake in
the company to raise the money and encourage other shareholders to support
the plan.

Baan shareholders vote on the proposed Invensys cash bid at an extraordinary general meeting on 29 June. Invensys need 95 per cent of shareholder approval to succeed.

The ERP vendor has been in trouble for a several months, culminating in a warning by the Amsterdam stock exchange that the company had to show its stock price had value after it dropped to under $5 a share. Following the warning, CEO Pierre Evereart confirmed he would consider a buy out.