¡¡¡¡AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Versata Enterprises, Inc. (Versata), a leading provider of enterprise software solutions announced the acquisition of privately held Nextance, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise contract management solutions. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, although Versata acknowledged funding the transaction without incurring debt, consistent with past acquisitions. Nextance''s board of directors and stockholders unanimously approved the transaction.

    Versata, based in Austin, TX, announced that it intends to continue operating Nextance as a stand-alone corporation within its family of software businesses that already includes Versata Software, Inc., Versata, Inc., Artemis International Solutions Corporation, and Gensym Corporation (pending shareholder approval, and other closing conditions, as previously announced).

    "By joining the Versata family, we secure Nextance''s long term viability and ensure our continued commitment to leading products in an increasingly competitive space," said Kyle Bowker, president and CEO of Nextance. "This acquisition ensures our customers benefits from Versata''s focus on customer success, and leverages Versata''s world-class engineering organization to extend our market-leading contract management capability. Our customers will benefit from Versata''s ability to accelerate and expand Nextance''s market competitiveness. As contract management becomes increasingly critical, as more companies operate globally, Nextance will be there to ensure our customers compete and prosper."

    "Over the past seven years, Nextance has demonstrated an ability to deliver market leading solutions to the largest companies in the world," said Randy Jacops, CEO of Versata Enteprises. "Nextance''s focus on providing solutions to global enterprises aligns closely with Versata''s focus on solving the most complex business problems. We welcome Nextance''s customers to the Versata family and look forward to demonstrating the benefits of our customer success commitment to Nextance''s global customers."

    Chris Smith, Versata''s Vice President of Operations, said, "We are excited to add Nextance to our product suite, particularly given the expected synergies with Artemis'' portfolio management solution products. We expect Nextance to extend our complex portfolio management capability, driving further value to our customers and partners. Our customer success commitment compels us to deliver high value solutions that reduce the cost of technology compared to virtually every option in the market."

    Versata will consolidate Nextance''s operations at the Austin headquarters while ensuring seamless support for customers. Additionally, Versata expects to leverage its global capability to introduce Nextance solutions to a global customer base.

    "We look forward to extending and enhancing Nextance''s product commitments to focus on solutions reflecting the lowest cost of ownership," said Smith. "Versata has a long history of operational efficiency enabling us to deliver the unexpected and we will continue that tradition with Nextance."

    Seven Hills Partners, LLC acted as financial adviser to Nextance in connection with the transaction.

    ABOUT NEXTANCE, INC.

    Nextance solutions are setting the standard for how companies manage their business relationships. Global 2000 companies are improving financial performance and lowering risk by using Nextance proposal-to-revenue and source-to-savings solutions to improve the standardization, visibility, and control of their relationship-defining documents, including sales proposals and all types of contractual agreements. Alion, Countrywide, Cytyc, Eastman Chemical Company, Google, Juniper Networks, Peabody Energy, Sasol, SHPS, Sun Microsystems, and others are using Nextance software every day to optimize the lifetime value of each of their thousands of customer, supplier, and partner relationships. Nextance is based in Redwood City, CA, and is privately held. For additional information, visit: http://www.nextance.com.

    ABOUT VERSATA ENTERPRISES, INC.

    With a global presence covering 45 countries, Versata Enterprises solves the most complex business problems for the world''s largest organizations. Versata Enterprises comprises a number of leading enterprise solution providers, including Versata, Inc., Artemis International Solutions Corporation, and the pending Gensym Corporation acquisition, in addition to Nextance, Inc. Versata distinguishes itself in the software industry by focusing on customer priorities as driven by value delivered. Versata''s market-leading Customer Success Program ensures customer involvement in product decisions and business priorities and provides a twice-yearly opportunity for customers to score Versata''s performance against commitments. Versata''s world-class engineering capability ensures substantive and valuable product releases, thereby ensuring customer success. Versata also offers customers the opportunity to leverage Versata''s global efficiency by offering a menu of services to help customers lower the cost of technology services across the enterprise. Versata''s relentless focus on customer priorities, coupled with an unmatched global engineering capability, ensures Versata customers benefit from continuous innovation and repeatable value propositions. Further information is available at http://www.versata.com.

    Source: Versata Enterprises, Inc.
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