U.S.-based Ceridian Corp. has agreed to acquire Canadian workforce management software firm Dayforce Corp. for an undisclosed amount.
The deal is expected to close in March. DayforceCEO David Ossip will become president of a new Ceridian division calledCeridian Dayforce but he will remain based in Toronto, Ossip toldITBusiness.ca in an interview following the announcement.
The acquisition will not result in any layoffs among Dayforce’s totalof 200 staff who work at its locations in Toronto (the company’sheadquarters and largest operations), Mississauga, Winnipeg,Minneapolis, Atlanta and Chicago. In fact, Dayforce is now hiring,Ossip said.
“We expect to grow to about 400 (staff) by end of the year. So it’sgreat for the staff because there’s tremendous opportunities (for them)in this massive growth phase,” Ossip said.
Dayforce was named one of Canada’s 20 most innovative companies in 2009by the CanadianInnovation Exchange (CIX). The firm was also made the2010 DeloitteTechnology Fast 50 list as one of Canada’s companies towatch.
Minneapolis-based Ceridian introduced its own workforce managementsolution last year using Dayforce’s cloud-based human capitalmanagement (HCM) platform. After the acquisition the product will bemarketed globally as Dayforce HCM and will include human resources,payroll, benefits, scheduling and attendance features.
Ossip’s latest deal
The sale is just the latest entrepreneurial coup for Ossip. He alsofounded another workforce management software firm called Workbrain (formerly traded on theToronto Stock Exchange) and sold it for $227 million in 2007 toAmerican firm Infor Global Solutions. But the two acquisitions couldn’tbe more different, Ossip said.
“With Workbrain we were a public company and we weren’t looking for anexit at the time. Now this (Ceridian deal) has really been apartnership in all aspects,” he said.
Small biz acquisition as a tech talent raid strategy
Ceridian acquired a 20 per cent stake in Dayforce about a year ago andthe two companies have worked closely since then on rolling outDayforce’s HCM offerings, Ossip said.
“So we’ve almost been operating as one organization already. It reallyfeels like a continuation and more of a commitment to the relationship(than an acquisition),” he said.
Although Ceridian and Dayforce are both private companies, theacquisition requires the approval of two-thirds of Dayforce’sshareholders. Ossip said he expects the deal to be approved andconfirmed he is “probably” the largest individual Dayforce shareholder.
