Flomerics goes to Mentor

It seems that raising its bid by 17% (to around $60 million) got Mentor Graphics got Flomerics after all. In one of the most public attempts to sell an organisation for a while, the electronics engineering specialist finally got hold of all that lovely CFD code that it wanted so badly. This follows Flomerics trying to sell itself to Autodesk and them not really being interested.

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PTC execs cash out if acquired

Roopinder at tenlinks.com dug out an interesting article in the Boston Business Journal. Apparently, PTC has been through a "change-in-control policy" that stumps up serious cash to the executives running the company if it is ever sold. we're talking a share of $1.9 million. what's also interesting is that this is a 10 percent increase in the $18 million already promised to those executives.

In specifics, it seems that the payments would go to CEO C Richard "Dick" Harrrison, CFO Cornelius "Neil" Moses III, Chief Product Officer Jim Heppelman and two other EVPs. Harrison alone would net over $15 million.

But what really amazed me was that someone would have the name Cornelius and not use it.

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Autodesk doesn't go with the flow

Yesterday I met Autodesk's Ken Bado (executive vice president of sales and services) and the first thing we talked about was the potential acquisition of CFD specialist developer, Flomerics. Bado wanted to set the record straight and said that Autodesk was no longer interested in buying the company.

There had been huge speculation of a deal after Flomerics issued a statement to shareholders announcing that the board was in discussions with Autodesk over a possible offer for the company. The move followed aggressive share purchases by silicon design tool specialist, Mentor Graphics.

In an added twist to the plot Mentor has just become the subject of a potential hostile take over from its biggest competitor, Cadence. In a highly fluid situation, Autodesk's shock decision to pull out of negotiations further muddies the waters, as to what fate Flomerics will have.

While a deal now looks unlikely, autodesk has shown its hand and has interests to add high-end CFD to its mechanical pot. The news probably has SolidWorks execs in Boston breathing a sigh of relief too, as had Autodesk got hold of it, Floworks would have vanished.

www.flomerics.com

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Autodesk to buy Flomerics... maybe?

It seems that Autodesk is looking to acquire Flomerics and its range of CFD-based simulation technologies. According to a statement released by Flomerics, this comes after Mentor Graphics tried to acquire the company early this quarter.

According to the statement:

Autodesk, Inc. ('Autodesk') and the Board of Directors of Flomerics Group PLC ('Flomerics' or the 'Company') are pleased to confirm that Autodesk is in continuing discussions with Flomerics and its advisers in respect of a possible offer for the Company.

These discussions are progressing and further announcements will be made in due course. At this stage, however, there can be no certainty that an offer from Autodesk will be forthcoming, nor as to the terms on which any offer might be made.

Unfortunately, I have no idea how these things work, but this is interesting for many reasons. If you take the MCAD market as a whole, there are a couple of missing gaps in several vendor's offerings and they relate to simulation. Namely, PTC and Autodesk don't have a decent Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer analysis offering.

In the world of CAD integrated CFD, PTC has always had a very strong relationship with Blue Ridge Numerics. Meanwhile Flomerics had been the outsider, until it acquired Nika last year. Nika develop the CFD code that's the underlying base technology for SolidWorks' FloWorks as well as its other EFD products.

What's intriguing is that Flomerics has a very wide range of interests. From the EFD tools for CAD integrated CFD, through more specialist electronics-related simulation with the FloTherm products and into the AEC market with the HVAC-biased product, FloVent. Now, who in the CAD world covers mechanical and architectural design? Yup. Autodesk.

It appears to be early days, but this move makes a hell of a lot of sense. What will happen to FloWorks? Will SolidWorks have to go elsewhere for that technology? Would PTC buy out Blue Ridge as a result? who knows? its all speculation. But purely in terms of Product Development Technology, this is interesting. If Autodesk can bring CFD in house (it already has FEA from the PlassoTech aquisition), it is acquiring Moldflow, the company looks be building a very interesting technology base for its Digital Prototyping concept that might finally see it delivered.

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