Sage has emerged as the frontrunner to acquire TeamSystem, the Italian financial software group, for up to €650 million.
Final bids for TeamSystem are expected this Friday, the business that has been put up for sale by Bain Capital. Sage was expected to outbid HgCapital and Cinven.
The Newcastle business employs 1,200 people at its Newcastle head office and revealed in a management statement that its debts were down from £305m at the end of March to £280m by the end of June.
Guy Berruyer is to take over the role of CEO next year following long-time head Paul Walker's decision to step down at the end of the year. Walker took the job in 1994 and is one of the longest serving FTSE-100 company CEOs, but is leaving to pursue other projects. Berruyer was promoted from the role of head of Sage's mainland European operations.
Shareholders are hoping with the new management in place that Sage will announce a SaaS strategy to stop from the high end SAP Business By Design and on the lower end Netsuite from stealing market share.
