AspenTech, a global leader in industrial software, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Australian mining software developer Micromine.
Aspen will pay private equity firm Potentia Capital and other sellers $900 million in cash.
The transaction complements AspenTech’s existing asset optimisation solutions and positions the company in a leadership role to deliver the “digital mine of the future,” in support of excellence in operations with a focus on safety, sustainability, reliability, and efficiency.
In addition, AspenTech is now uniquely positioned to help mining customers address the dual challenge of meeting the demands of a growing population with an increasing standard of living, while reaching sustainability goals.
The company said AspenTech’s innovation and unique expertise in digitally transforming the chemicals and oil and gas industries would be critical to the mining industry as it embarks on rapid digitalisation.
With a 35-year track record of success and 280 employees across 22 global offices, Micromine provides mission critical solutions for more than 800 blue-chip customers across all mining operations and commodities, with a focus on various metals essential for the energy transition such as lithium, cobalt and nickel, base metals such as copper and iron ore, and precious metals such as gold.
AspenTech president Antonio Petri said digitalisation was critical for the metals and mining industry to become sustainably sound and operationally excellent for generations to come.
“Micromine’s comprehensive solutions span the breadth of the mining cycle from geological exploration and data management to resource estimation, mine design, planning, scheduling and production control,” he said.
“AspenTech has gained additional flexibility to strategically deploy capital for growth. Combining AspenTech’s product portfolio and worldwide reach with Micromine’s mission-critical technology and leadership in the mining industry will equip customers with a comprehensive offering and the end-to-end ability to drive efficiencies across the entire mining value chain, while helping them meet the dual challenge.”
Micromine chief executive officer Andrew Birch said the majority of organizations in the mining industry were in a nascent stage of digitalisation.
“Accelerating their digital initiatives through a comprehensive suite of software applications and the expertise from AspenTech is a unique opportunity for our customers,” he said.
“Our vision has always been to create an ecosystem that connects experts across the exploration and mining value chain, using both new and existing technologies to deliver better outcomes for our customers.”
“Micromine solutions complement AspenTech solutions perfectly with resultant capabilities of the whole combined company that are greater than the sum of the parts.
Joining forces with AspenTech further reinforces this vision and will be the key to delivering the next generation of efficiencies in the mining sector.”
Micromine is expected to be accretive to AspenTech on a free cash flow basis within the first 12 months of the transaction closing.
