“We believe actual benefits may prove greater as the deal adds to IBM’s business and predictive analytics portfolio, which will be an essential part of IBM’s smarter business systems and which the company has identified as a significant growth opportunity over the next few years,” he said. UBS analyst Maynard Um estimates that SPSS could add 3 cents a share to IBM’s 2010 earnings, but said the greatest gain may lie in deeper penetration into the analytics market. The stock had already risen 30 percent this year. Shares of Chicago-based SPSS, a pioneer in business intelligence, jumped $14.36 or 40.92 percent to $49.45. “SPSS was probably fine on its own as an independent company, but IBM provides the distribution and stability, the economics and technology foundation.” “We’re in a period where consolidation seems to be a rule of the game,” said Charles King, an analyst with Pund-IT Research. Other names in the arena include MicroStrategy Inc, Actuate Corp and Datawatch Corp. The proposed acquisition, announced on Tuesday, follows a spate of deals in recent years in the business intelligence sector, such as Oracle’s purchase of Hyperion, SAP’s acquisition of Business Objects and International Business Machines Corp’s own deal for Cognos. Shareholders of SPSS, which provides software and services to help companies analyze and forecast trends in consumer behavior, would receive $50 a share, a 42 percent premium to Monday’s closing price. A worker prepares a stand of IBM for the upcoming CeBIT fair inside a hall in Hanover February 27, 2009.

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