Merger mania has whittled down the major players in the raging battle for market share among middle-market accounting software vendors to just a few. The Sage Group recently acquired Best Software; Great Plains snapped up Solomon and Real World, and Accpac, a part of Computer Associates, scooped up SBT.

Navision and Damgaard this week revealed that the two firms are in talks to combine their businesses in a move that would create a company with a global customer base of 120,000 installations, an international business partner channel of more than 2,000 partners, and more than 1,000 employees. Navision Software will be the continuing company.

The combined company will continue to market the two present companies’ main product lines: Damgaard Axapta, Navision Solutions, Damgaard XAL and Damgaard C5.

Navision president and chief executive Jesper Balser and Damgaard president and chief executive Preben Damgaard will serve as joint chief executive officers of the new company, which will operate under the name NavisionDamgaard. The combined firm's headquarters will be in Vedbaek, at the site of Navision's current headquarters. Navision chair Waldemar Schmidt will serve as chairman of the combined unit. Damgaard chair Hans Werdelin will become deputy chairman.

"The merger between our companies is natural because we can stop competing against each other and instead focus on creating a strong global company for the mid-market. By merging the two companies, we achieve a size and a market position that enables us to participate actively in the current international consolidation in the industry," said Balser.

Shareholders of both firms are slated to vote on the proposed deal on Dec. 21.

-- SmartPros News Staff

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