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The
deal comes a week after Salesforce completed its more than $15
billion purchase of data analytics firm Tableau.
The deal came about after the two companies worked together for
three years, said Elad Donsky, vice president of engineering at
Salesforce Israel.
ClickSoftware makes cloud-based field service management
software - which tracks and manages technicians and employees
who work outside office locations - for customers like Bosch,
Deutsche Telekom and Ericsson.
"This is just the start of innovation on this," Donsky told
Reuters, referring to the field service management software
sector.
This is the second major deal by Salesforce in Israel since July
2018 when it paid $850 million for Datorama, a cloud-based
artificial intelligence marketing platform that makes up one of
Salesforces's two research and development facilities in Israel.
The ClickSoftware deal would bring the number of employees at
Salesforce in Israel to above 600, Donsky said.
"Salesforce will continue to invest in Israel," he said. "Israel
is now a strategic R&D hub for the company so we are going to
see more growth in the coming years."
U.S. private equity firm Francisco Partners bought ClickSoftware
in 2015 for $438 million.
Salesforce said its offer was net of the value of shares it
already owns, after taking into consideration estimated purchase
price adjustments.
The acquisition is expected to close during Salesforce's fiscal
quarter ending Oct. 31 pending various approvals.
(Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Tova Cohen and Deepa
Babington)
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