Acquisition expected to help Bentley Systems in advancing environmental resilience by expanding infrastructure digital twins
Seequent is a New Zealand-based geoscience software company. (Credit: Seequent Limited)
Bentley Systems has agreed to acquire Seequent, a New Zealand-based 3D geological modelling and visual data software provider, for around $1.05bn.
Seequent is being bought by the US-based infrastructure engineering software company from investors led by Accel-KKR.
The consideration is made up of $900m in cash plus 3,141,361 Class B shares of Bentley Systems.
Seequent is engaged in offering geological and geophysical modelling, and geotechnical stability software. It also provides cloud services for geodata management, visibility, and collaboration.
The company has a workforce of over 430 people in 16 office locations. It caters to geologists, geophysicists, hydrogeologists, geotechnical engineers, and civil engineers, and also mining companies.
Its solutions are said to help people in analysing complex data, risk management, and in making better decisions related to earth, environment, and energy challenges.
Seequent’s products include 3D geological modelling and visualisation software Leapfrog, 3D earth modelling and geoscience data management solution Geosoft, and geotechnical slope stability and deformation modelling software GeoStudio.
Bentley Systems said that its complementary geotechnical engineering software portfolio which includes PLAXIS, OpenGround, and gINT will be integrated to support open digital workflows.
The company said that the acquisition will expand the potential of infrastructure digital twins to help understand and mitigate environmental risks, and also in advancing resilience and sustainability.
Bentley Systems CEO Greg Bentley said: “We can be very confident about Seequent’s contribution to our shared future not only because of our product synergies, but because we recognize in Seequent’s trajectory an echo of the playbook that made Bentley Systems successful—except they have grown faster!
“They have made farsighted decisions to benefit the future at every stage: identifying and then laser-focusing on the 3D “vertical” opportunity in earth modelling, institutionalising a subscription commercial model from the outset, directly populating the appropriate global markets, acquiring and consolidating the best software for adjacent disciplines, and bringing it all together with cloud services, ready for digital twins advancement together.”
Furthermore, Bentley Systems said that Seequent’s established footprint in South America, southern Africa, and other mineral-intensive geographies, will expedite its overall opportunities in the regions with considerable infrastructure requirements.
Seequent will be able to expand into new markets through Bentley Systems’ established Chinese presence, and also its reach in civil engineering sectors.
Seequent CEO Shaun Maloney said: “By ‘leapfrogging ahead’ with Bentley to align geosciences with infrastructure engineering through deeper digital twins, Seequent underscores our conviction that better understanding of the earth creates a better world for all.
“Users and accounts of Seequent, as a Bentley Company, can expect business as usual, with many product and commercial synergies eventually forthcoming.”
The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.