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IFS buys industrial asset management provider Copperleaf

IFS acquires asset investment management provider Copperleaf Technologies, adding to its portfolio of applications that help companies manage their physical and digital assets.

Jim O'Donnell
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Published: 11 Jun 2024

This story was updated on 6/12/2024.

IFS is adding to its industrial asset management roster of applications with the acquisition of Copperleaf Technologies.

Based in Vancouver, B.C., Copperleaf Technologies provides asset investment planning and management software that uses AI to help companies such as manufacturers and utilities make decisions on physical and digital assets. Copperleaf customers operate in industries such as electricity generation, natural gas, waste management, energy, pharmaceuticals and transportation, including One Gas, Manitoba Hydro and National Grid. These customers use Copperleaf software to manage trillions of dollars in their industrial assets, according to the company.

IFS provides industrial-focused ERP, enterprise asset management (EAM) and field service management (FSM) applications both in the cloud and on premises. The vendor has been recently and steadily growing its portfolio of asset management applications by acquiring industrial-focused software companies, including industrial AI provider Falkonry in 2023, connected worker platform provider Poka in 2023, EAM vendor Ultimo in 2022 and enterprise service management vendor Axios Systems in 2021.

IFS is acquiring all of Copperleaf's issued and common stock shares, which trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange, for 12 Canadian dollars per share, for a total valuation of about CA$1 billion ($726.7 million).

The deal must undergo shareholder and regulatory approval and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024.

Useful addition at a reasonable cost

The IFS acquisition is its biggest yet and brings to life IFS' FSM capabilities with the EAM strength of Copperleaf, said Ray Wang, an analyst at Constellation Research.

"Organizations that are in the midst of digitizing their postsale offerings will benefit from being able to build end-to-end capabilities in services and maintenance revenue," Wang said.

The acquisition of Copperleaf seems to be a good catch at a reasonable price, said Predrag Jakovljevic, an industry analyst at Technology Evaluation Centers.

"IFS can cross-sell Copperleaf into its [base of] EAM and FSM customers," he said.

Acquiring Copperleaf also fits in with IFS' 2020 acquisition of Clevest, a utilities-focused FSM vendor also based in British Columbia.

Jim O'Donnell is a senior news writer for TechTarget Editorial who covers ERP and other enterprise applications.

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