France’s Dassault Systèmes to Buy San Diego’s Accelrys for $750M

Dassault Systèmes, a French software developer specializing in 3D product design and product lifecycle management, has agreed to acquire Accelrys (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ACCL]]), the San Diego scientific software developer, for roughly $750 million in cash.

The acquisition extends Dassault Systèmes’ software lineup in a variety of product lifecycle management industries, including consumer packaged goods and food-and-beverage, with software Accelrys has developed or acquired for managing the lifecycle of scientific products made in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, chemicals, and energy industries.

The deal also is expected to enrich Dassault Systèmes’ molecular simulation capabilities, used in basic scientific research and discovery, manufacturing, and regulatory applications. Dassault Systèmes’ is a subsidiary of France’s Dassault Group conglomerate, and based in the suburbs southwest Paris, near Versailles.

With its offer, Dassault Systèmes also gains access to about 2,000 Accelrys customers, a list that includes many Fortune 500 companies—including Sanofi, Pfizer, GSK, AstraZeneca, Du Pont, Shell, BASF, P&G, Unilever, and L’Oréal.

Last week Accelrys hosted Martin Karplus, a Harvard University emeritus professor of chemistry, at its San Diego headquarters as part of its annual worldwide meeting. Karplus provided substantial expertise to Accelrys through his work in molecular modeling and simulation—including CHARMM, a molecular dynamics and analysis software package that is commercially available through Accelrys.

Martin’s work has enabled scientists to predict important molecular changes using computer models instead of experimentation, which can shorten the time it takes to commercialize new drugs.

In recent years, Accelrys also has been on an acquisition spree of its own. Just last month, Accelrys acquired Qumas, the Irish specialist in compliance and quality management software. Since then, Accelrys says its global workforce is now at 456, with 160 employees in San Diego.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of June, pending regulatory review and legal work.

Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.