Business Objects to acquire La Crosse-based Firstlogic

Business Objects has agreed to buy La Crosse-based data quality firm Firstlogic for about $69 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.

Firstlogic is a privately held firm that provides software, services, education and consulting to help businesses make sure their data is as correct as they need to be. They serve 6,000 customers worldwide in places such as call centers, web sites, customer relationship management systems, and business intelligence systems.

For Business Objects, the purchase is a strategic one, building its enterprise information management, or EIM, presence. "With today's acquisition of Firstlogic, Business Objects acquires one of the most important pieces of the EIM puzzle – data quality," said CEO John Schwarz, in a press release.

The two companies have been working together since mid-2004, when Firstlogic agreed to provide OEM software to be embedded in Business Objects' data integration platform.

Previously, Pitney Bowes, a mail and document management company, had considered buying Firstlogic for $50 million. That deal officially fell through last November, partly based on a move by the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the deal more extensively than expected. At the time, advances by both Business Objects and another partner, Informatica, were known possibilities.

Firstlogic's reported revenues for 2005 were about $50 million.