Rocket Software Closes $2.275B Acquisition of OpenText’s Application Modernization and Connectivity Business

WALTHAM, Mass.—Rocket Software, Inc. (“Rocket Software”), a global technology leader in modernization software, has expanded upon its position as a partner of choice empowering the world's leading businesses on their modernization journeys. Closing the acquisition of the Application Modernization and Connectivity (AMC) business of OpenText, formerly part of Micro Focus, Rocket Software now offers customers modernization software solutions spanning the mainframe to the cloud. With a total purchase price of $2.275 billion, before taxes, fees and other adjustments, the deal increases the company’s revenue by over 60% and expands its customer base to more than 12,500 companies and network to more than 750 partners worldwide. In addition, the company welcomes more than 770 new software engineers, go-to-market professionals and other supporting team members and is hiring hundreds of additional Rocketeers to complement its existing team.

“Rocket Software’s customers are global market leaders that are constantly setting new benchmarks for excellence and innovation in their industries that we are proud to power and advance,” said Milan Shetti, president and CEO of Rocket Software. “The acquisition of the OpenText AMC business is a significant milestone that sets a similar new standard for modernization innovation and excellence at Rocket Software and greatly accelerates our strategic growth and market penetration. We now have the solutions, resources and expertise to tackle modernization challenges at scale, and the continued flexibility, winning culture, proven partnerships and growth mindset necessary to help our customers win today and well into the future.”

“The combination of OpenText’s AMC business and Rocket Software’s highly complementary businesses will create one of the world’s largest mainframe modernization and connectivity software companies,” said Peter Rutten, Research Vice-President, Performance Intensive Computing, IDC. “While many in the industry would champion moving everything to the cloud, or never moving anything off the mainframe, this investment shows Rocket Software’s commitment to meeting clients wherever they are in their modernization journey. Now Rocket Software will have a comprehensive portfolio that allows clients to modernize their workloads in place, move applications to the cloud or a combination of both through a hybrid strategy, which we see most enterprises prefer.”

With the added talent and innovation acquired from AMC, the company has set a new bar for modernization innovation in a single partner that:

• Offers Leading Technology for Mainframe Modernization by building on its deep expertise and long-standing commitment to optimizing mainframe environments to facilitate seamless, secure and compliant solutions that meet the demands of the digital era
• Meets Customers Wherever They Are on Their Journeys with an unyielding grasp of the entire landscape and comprehensive range of software solutions for any stage of modernization
• Values and Builds on Past and Current Investments by recognizing there is a better approach to the ‘rip and replace’ playbook for modernization and instead helps customers leverage their existing foundation for a seamless technological evolution
• Delivers Solutions as a True Partner, Not Just a Vendor with a 93.7% customer satisfaction rate for enterprises that demand nothing short of excellence, and need a trusted partner

Rocket Software will integrate and continue to develop AMC products to enhance its portfolio, helping customers stay competitive and leverage their data, applications and infrastructure regardless of their modernization strategy. In addition to several complementary Host Connectivity, Application Development and CORBA solutions, Rocket Software will also offer COBOL and Enterprise Suite, market leading technologies that allow companies the ability to run COBOL and PL/I applications on distributed or cloud servers. These added capabilities expand the mainframe modernization approaches that Rocket Software can deliver, enabling choice and allowing customers to run workloads wherever it makes sense for their business. This breadth, and the ability to integrate the various approaches, allows customers to seamlessly connect any combination of solutions across the modernization continuum.

“Within our organization, the need for modernization is a dynamic process, continually evolving as we grow and scale our business.," said José Fortemps, CTO, AG Insurance. "The OpenText AMC solutions have served us well and, now as part of Rocket Software, we look forward to exploring new opportunities for our data, application and infrastructure that propels us into the future.”