Dassault Systèmes and Centric Software Come Together to Accelerate Digital Transformation of Fashion, Retail and Consumer Goods Companies: Dassault Systèmes to Acquire Majority Stake in Centric Software

Dassault Systèmes (Euronext Paris: #13065) (Euronext Paris: DSY.PA) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in Centric Software , a privately-owned industry market leader driving digital transformation with software innovation in the fashion, apparel, luxury and retail sectors. With this investment, Dassault Systèmes aims to accelerate the digital transformation of companies seeking solutions for the increasingly complex development of collections that respond to today's on-trend and on-demand consumers, representing a multi-billion dollar total addressable market.

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Headquartered in California's Silicon Valley and with offices in 13 countries, Centric Software provides product lifecycle management software solutions to more than 600 globally-recognized brands including ASICS, Bass Pro, Belle China, Bestseller, Etam, Kate Spade, Loblaws, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, Samsonite, Ted Baker, Tommy Hilfiger and others. In 2017, Centric Software grew over 60 percent for a revenue of $61 million and generated positive net income. Centric's industry-specific collaborative PLM platform is used for merchandise planning, product specifications, materials management, product sourcing, cost scenarios, collection management, calendar management and quality management, on desktop and also optimized for mobile devices, to increase efficiency, accelerate time to market, and improve sales and product margins.

"As we are connecting the dots of the value network for customers in 12 industries and 70 segments, we understand the specific needs of the sectors that launch their products by collection," said Bernard Charlès, Vice Chairman and CEO, Dassault Systèmes. "Centric Software is joining us with a market-leading, well-tailored, configurable PLM solution and a great team of experts fully dedicated to making these particular customers successful. Together, we are going to accelerate their transformation with PLM and create even more business value with our 3DEXPERIENCE industry processes. As we did for SOLIDWORKS 20 years ago, we will keep Centric Software independently operated."

Today's consumers are more knowledgeable about products than ever before, quickly defining and following trends in a world where the digital and physical converge. Competitive apparel and fashion brands are scrambling to meet their expectations for on-trend and on-demand products by increasing the number of collections they produce each year and accelerating their launch. For thousands of companies, this challenge requires last-minute decision-making and the need to reconfigure business processes for product creation through market launch quickly without eroding margins or product quality.  

"By partnering with Dassault Systèmes, Centric Software will have the backing of a world-leading innovation company," said Chris Groves, President and CEO, Centric Software. "Our combined expertise in digital transformation, PLM and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform will allow us to accelerate the development of market-driven innovations to help our customers develop a competitive advantage and fuel growth."

"I look forward to Centric Software partnering with Dassault Systèmes to leverage two, world-class, innovative companies as they enable, accelerate and deliver the most fundamentally disruptive, purpose-built solutions for a vast yet radically underserved industry yielding compelling economic efficiencies of end-to-end digital transformation," said Bandel Carano, Managing Director, Oak Investment Partners, an investor in Centric Software.

Under the terms of the agreement, Dassault Systèmes will acquire for cash a majority ownership of Centric Software, which will be comprised between 58 and 69 percent depending on the Centric Software shareholders' election, and an advance payment on the acquisition of the remainder of the shares, which will take place in 2020 and 2021. The total consideration for the acquisition of 100 percent of Centric Software's equity will depend on Centric Software's revenue growth and profitability in the two years to come, and will be comprised between four and six times 2019 and 2020 revenues.

Shearman & Sterling LLP acted as legal counsel to Dassault Systèmes and Union Square Advisors LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor and DLA Piper as legal counsel to Centric Software in connection with the transaction.

Comments on this acquisition will be made during Dassault Systèmes' Capital Markets Day, which will be held on June 15, 2018. A webcast of the Capital Markets Day including Centric Software acquisition comments and a Q&A will be available that afternoon by accessing http://www.3ds.com/company/finance/.

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For more information: 

Dassault Systèmes' industry solution experiences for the consumer goods & retail industry: https://ifwe.3ds.com/consumer-goods-retail

Dassault Systèmes' 3DEXPERIENCE platform, 3D design software, 3D Digital Mock Up and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions: http://www.3ds.com

About Centric Software (http://www.centricsoftware.com )

From its headquarters in Silicon Valley and offices in trend capitals around the world, Centric Software provides a Digital Transformation Platform for the most prestigious names in fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods. Centric Visual Innovation Platform (VIP) is a visual, fully digital collection of boards for touch-based devices like iPad, iPhone and large-scale, touch-screen televisions. Centric VIP transforms decision making and automates execution to truly collapse time to market and distance to trend. Centric Software's flagship product lifecycle management (PLM) platform, Centric 8, delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, business planning, quality, and collection management functionality tailored for fast-moving consumer industries. Centric SMB packages extended PLM including innovative technology and key industry learnings tailored for small businesses.

Centric is a registered trademark of Centric Software. All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. 

About Dassault Systèmes 

Dassault Systèmes, the 3DEXPERIENCE Company, provides business and people with virtual universes to imagine sustainable innovations. Its world-leading solutions transform the way products are designed, produced, and supported. Dassault Systèmes' collaborative solutions foster social innovation, expanding possibilities for the virtual world to improve the real world.  The group brings value to over 220,000 customers of all sizes, in all industries, in more than 140 countries. For more information, visit http://www.3ds.com.

3DEXPERIENCE, the Compass logo and the 3DS logo, CATIA, SOLIDWORKS, ENOVIA, DELMIA, SIMULIA, GEOVIA, EXALEAD, 3D VIA, BIOVIA, NETVIBES and 3DEXCITE are registered trademarks of Dassault Systèmes or its subsidiaries in the US and/or other countries.