Softland to focus US$95mn purse on software developers

Spanish corporate software company Grupo Softland is looking to buy rivals in Chile and elsewhere in Latin America using proceeds from the US$95mn sale of its European operations in October, chief executive Luiz Alberto Erazo told BNamericas. Potential acquisitions must match local demand opportunities with Softland's existing portfolio of corporate software, and will be concentrated on Spanish-speaking Latin America, rather than Brazil, he said. "We want to make sure we don't lose our identity," he said. Spain's Grupo SP acquired Chile's Softland in 2001, creating a new company called Softland SP. In October this year the Spanish owners sold their European operations to the UK's Sage and announced they were shifting their focus to Latin America, Erazo said. The sale of the European operations means the company's name will change to Grupo Softland, Erazo said. The corporate headquarters will remain in Spain, though all operations and software development will be done in Chile, he said, adding the company is on track to bill US$5mn this year from operations that also include Argentina and Mexico. Softland software covers portals, e-commerce, business intelligence, help desk services, and front and back office functions, and since November, a customer relationship management (CRM) module, he said, adding that the company plans to offer products under an application service provider (ASP) model at some point in the next year. The products are packaged as three suites - Advance, for medium to large businesses; Business, for small to medium businesses; and Pyme, for smaller companies, he said. At the moment, Softland is only selling Pyme in Argentina and Mexico, but is preparing to launch versions of Advance and Business for those two markets, he said. This will be a significant move as Advance and Business account for 80% of the company's total sales, he said.