Perficient To Buy E-Commerce IT Firm For $35.7M

Perficient Thursday revealed its $35.7 million acquisition of Zeon Solutions, an IT consulting firm focused on developing, implementing, integrating and supporting e-commerce services.

Milwaukee-based Zeon employs 400 and does $23 million in sales of e-commerce, content management, product information management, and mobile and digital marketing services each year. Zeon CEO Rupesh Agrawal will join Perficient in a key leadership role.

"Their formidable reputation, customer-centric mentality, strong client roster and demonstrated propensity to consistently grow revenues and profitability ensure a strong cultural fit and compelling opportunities for accelerated growth moving forward," Jeffrey Davis, Perficient president and CEO, said in a statement.

[Related: Perficient Acquires IBM Division Of Trifecta Technologies For $13.7 Million]

This is the fourth acquisition of 2014 for Perficient, No. 66 on the CRN Solution Provider 500 list, bringing the St. Louis-based company's annual revenue very close to its long-stated goal of $500 million. Perficient employs nearly 2,600 people across North America, China and India.

The deal is expected to close in early January and benefit Perficient's adjusted earnings per share. Perficient will pay for Zeon with approximately $22.3 million in cash and $13.4 million in stock.

Zeon has demonstrated consistent success with its user experience, digital marketing and SEO techniques in the e-commerce space, according to Ed Hoffman, Perficient's vice president of digital experience solutions.

The company's enterprise customers include BSN Sports, Hickory Farms, HoMedics, Jordan's Furniture, Steelcase, Walter Kidde and Woodstream Corp. It's one of North America's largest independent Insite Commerce and Magento consultancies.

Zeon was founded in 2003 and its holdings include Grand River Interactive, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., and an offshore delivery center based in Nagpur, India. Its employees specialize in consulting, technology, sales and support.

Perficient has been extremely active in using M&A to boost its vertical proficiency, completing seven deals since the start of 2013.

Those acquisitions include IBM and Salesforce.com partners Clear Task and TriTek Solutions in May 2013; CoreMatrix in October 2013; financial services company ForwardThink in February; life sciences and pharmaceutical technological consulting firm BioPharm Systems in April; and the IBM Smarter Commerce Division of Trifecta Technologies in May for $13.7 million.

Davis told CRN in May that Perficient expected to complete at least one more acquisition in the late third or fourth quarter of 2014.

Perficient has posted 23 percent compound annual growth dating back to 2001. It has been IBM's top midsize partner for at least the past three years, according to Davis.

PUBLISHED DEC. 18, 2014