PI System Software-Maker OSIsoft Being Acquired by AVEVA

In a $5 billion deal, engineering and industrial software company AVEVA has agreed to acquire OSIsoft, maker of the PI System, which is a market-leading operational data software solution.

“Combining AVEVA and OSIsoft is yet another significant milestone in our journey to achieving the ambitious growth goals that we have set,” Craig Hayman, CEO of Cambridge, UK-based AVEVA, said in a statement. “This will not only help us serve existing customers better but also open the flood gates to new opportunities which will accelerate the delivery of our digitization vision.”

OSIsoft was established in October 1980 by Dr. J. Patrick Kennedy, who is still the company’s CEO. It was originally known as Oil Systems Inc. The company’s first iteration of the PI System, which stood for “Plant Information System,” debuted in 1985. Today, OSIsoft reports the system is used at more than 19,000 sites around the world, including at many power plants.

According to the company, the PI System enables customers to collect, normalize, store, and stream real-time, high-fidelity operational data to applications, analytics, and artificial intelligence and machine learning platforms. The PI System acts as a single system of record for operations data, designed for massive cloud-enabled scale and data sharing across enterprises, and enables insightful operations decision-making, the company says.

OSIsoft claims to work with more than 1,000 of the world’s leading power and utilities companies, 38 of the Global Fortune Top 40 oil and gas companies, all of the Global Fortune Top 10 metals and mining companies, 37 of the world’s 50 largest chemical and petrochemical companies, and nine of the Global Fortune Top 10 pharmaceutical companies. OSIsoft is headquartered in San Leandro, California, and has about 1,400 employees.

AVEVA, meanwhile, says its engineering, planning and operations, asset performance, and monitoring and control solutions are used by more than 16,000 customers across the globe. It operates in diverse markets, particularly in the process, batch, and hybrid industries. The company says its portfolio of software solutions span the entire operational life cycle of many of the world’s major industries. AVEVA has more than 4,400 employees at 80 locations in more than 40 countries.

“Joining forces with AVEVA enhances and extends our ability to deliver on our key commitments to our customers, partners and employees,” Kennedy said in a statement. “Together we will be better able to service the largest digital transformation projects in history, including across industry 4.0+ and IIoT [Industrial Internet of Things]. AVEVA’s interest in OSIsoft is a testament to our talented team, and the extraordinary value of the PI System as the real-time streaming data infrastructure that powers the industrial world.”

AVEVA expects OSIsoft’s data management software to complement its own comprehensive end-to-end engineering, operations, and performance offerings. “Integrating OSIsoft’s PI System into AVEVA’s comprehensive software portfolio will create an integrated data foundation that can drive big data, Cloud and AI-driven insights to create meaningful business outcomes for customers,” the company said.

“Today’s announcement is the culmination of a thoughtful search for a respected organization that would mesh with our own strong mission- and customer-driven culture,” Kennedy said on August 25. “The next chapter in PI’s fifth decade will be exciting for our employees and customers, and I look forward to my continued involvement in my new role as the largest individual shareholder in the combined company and as Chairman Emeritus to ensure we realize the full benefits of this transaction.”

“Data has been enabling organizations to more effectively determine the cause of problems by allowing them to visualize what is happening in different locations, departments and systems. This agreement will enable our customers to improve business processes as well as eliminate inefficiencies. We are extremely proud to be moving into the next chapter with an even stronger solutions portfolio as well as an ever-increasing and robust customer base which continues to make us leaders in our sector,” Hayman said.

OSIsoft is owned by three shareholders: Estudillo Holdings Corp., a company majority-owned by Kennedy and his family; SB/OSI Inc., a company owned by SoftBank Group; and MDT Holdings Inc., a company owned by Mitsui Group. The acquisition requires approval from AVEVA’s shareholders, who are expected to vote on the deal at an Extraordinary General Meeting. It also requires regulatory approvals from various countries including the U.S.

—Aaron Larson is POWER’s executive editor (@AaronL_Power, @POWERmagazine).