Oracle Buys US Project Management Specialist Skire

On Thursday, Oracle continued its acquisition spree by buying up almost all of the assets of the US cloud-based project management software developer Skire. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The Skire management team and employees are expected to join Oracle to work on its Primavera project portfolio management suite.

The deal follows this year’s acquisitions of social marketing companies Vitrue, Collective Intellect and Involver, and the HR management tool provider Taleo.

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Founded in 2000 and headquartered in the Silicon Valley, in 2010 Skire was recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest growing private companies in the US. Its customers include companies from a wide range of industries: from oil and gas to healthcare, casinos, banking and public sector.

Skire software is used by Bank of America, Qualcomm, Roche as well as local governments of New York and Los Angeles. It provides a complete set of management and governance tools across all project phases from planning and building to operations.

According to the company, its Unifier system has helped manage over $300 billion (£191bn) in capital projects and over three billion square feet of facilities and real estate.

By combining Skire with industry leading capabilities from its Primavera products, Oracle intends to create a full lifecycle Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM) platform.

The combination is expected to help organisations manage their projects with more predictability and financial control, improving profitability and operational efficiency.

“The capital construction and facilities industry has for decades sought a tighter relationship and greater synchronisation between owners and service providers, and the Oracle-Skire combination makes that vision a reality,” said Massy Mehdipour, founder and CEO of Skire.

“This announcement is the result of years of tremendous dedication by our employees, and with the support of our customers we are thrilled to be joining Oracle to provide the choice of both cloud-based and on-premise governance spanning the entire lifecycle of EPPM,” he added.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and approvals and is expected to close in the second half of 2012. Until that happens, Oracle and Skire will continue to operate “business as usual”.

In June, Oracle reported that its fiscal Q4 2012 net income increased 8 percent to $3.5 billion (£2.2bn).

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