Amsterdam, May 26 (Bloomberg) -- Baan NV, a Dutch business- software company, is in ``intensive'' talks with a number of possible buyers that may include the U.K.'s Invensys Plc, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people close to Baan.
Baan did not return calls seeking comment. A spokesman for Invensys declined to comment.
Baan needs a financial investor or company to purchase it after seven straight quarters of losses have drained it of cash, analysts say. While Baan's software products and customers like Boeing Co. and Ford Motor Co. are valuable, a buyer would also be saddled with a company with falling revenue, they say.
``The acquisition price isn't a problem for anyone,'' said Jan-Hein Arts, an analyst at Bank Insinger de Beaufort in Amsterdam. ``The problem is the pill you have to swallow afterward because Baan won't be profitable for a while.''
Baan shares fell 0.32 euro, or 10.5 percent, to 2.74 euros. The drop erased part of Baan's 90 percent jump yesterday on speculation the company will soon be bought.
Baan's market capitalization has dropped to about 675 million euros ($617 million) today from $10.8 billion in April 1998.
Invensys, the world's biggest maker of factory controls, already makes production-control software for chemicals and has been focusing on activities to help manufacturers become more efficient. Baan's software has the same aim -- streamlining inventory, production, delivery, sales and finance data.
Barneveld, Netherlands-based Baan hired Lazard Freres in January to advise the company on its strategic options after its chief executive quit amid swelling losses. Quelle:www.bloomberg.com