In the merger and acquisition news from last week, the interesting one was about CDC Software's agreement to buy Catalyst International.

CDC Software, provider of industry-specific ERP applications and business services, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Milwaukee-based Catalyst International, provider of supply chain execution solutions.




"This acquisition will expand our global supply chain offerings and base of blue-chip customers, and at the same time, strengthen our CDC Global Services offerings by adding significant expertise and resources in large-scale supply chain execution," said Eric Musser, CEO of CDC Software.

On the other hand, given CDC's existing IMI Supply Chain product line and its Global Services operations, there is considerable overlap - although the company describes them as complementary.

CDC targets its IMI suite at demand-driven fulfilment in multi-company, multi-site and multi-channel operations. Catalyst's key functionality includes Warehouse Management, transportation management, dynamic route planning, slotting, labour management, cross-dock planning and yard management.

The completion of the acquisition is subject to the satisfaction of a number of customary conditions precedent. CDC Software currently anticipates that the transaction will be completed by the end of September 2007.