I hope you had a wonderful, restful weekend! While some of us were enjoying turkey and trimmings, AVEVA’s minority owners approved a sale of their shares to Schneider Electric (SE). This ends the story that started when SE first offered to buy part of the company in 2018. You may recall that SE upped its offer to £32.25 per share, enough to get over 80% of the shares to vote in favor of the deal.

As I understand the rules in the UK, the companies now have to obtain regulatory approvals in Europe and the UK. Then, there’s a hearing at the High Court of Justice in England and Wales, which has to sign off on the deal. Once the Court approves, AVEVA’s shares will be delisted from London Stock Exchange, and SE will start buying up AVEVA shareholders’ shares (including the 15% or so that did not vote in favor of the deal). Once all of that happens, AVEVA becomes a wholly-owned SE subsidiary.

The companies say the Court hearing will happen in Q1, though I have yet to see a specific date. This all must be finished by September 21, 2023 — if anything on this path fails and can’t be resolved by then, the deal is off.

What does it all mean? Industrial companies like Schneider Electric, Rockwell, and many others see the advantages of making and selling software — and they are not the best suited to that level of investment and support. Snapping up profitable, growing software businesses is a great way to get the margins generated by those businesses and level up the hardware they already sell with software content. I’m sure we’ll see more of this. I am sad to see yet another venerable independent brand (probably) swallowed up … but then I’m contacted by a PLMish startup and realize that this is, in the immortal words of Elton John, just part of the circle of life.