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California tech company Trimble Inc. has agreed to acquire Portland-based Viewpoint Construction Software from Bain Capital for $1.2 billion 鈥� all cash.

Trimble, based in Sunnyvale, California, specializes in GIS mapping, data collection and integration, as well as construction and other software and hardware products. The deal follows the company’s February acquisition of Florida-based e-Builder and its portfolio of construction software.

Viewpoint Construction Software was founded in 1976 in Portland. Bain Capital, a Massachusetts private equity firm, invested $230 million in the company in 2014 before selling to Trimble just four years later, almost to the day.

Viewpoint grew to prominence nationally with its suite of software that integrates financial and resource management with project operations on the jobsite. This allows the user to manage data and workflow that span the construction life cycle from pre-production planning to project handover.

The company has been leading a push to move the construction industry out of the analog era, according to Viewpoint CEO Manolis Kotzabasakis.

鈥淭he construction industry is embarking on a major digital transformation,鈥� he stated in a news release issued Monday.

Viewpoint currently has an estimated 8,000 customers worldwide 鈥� primarily heavy highway and civil contractors, general contractors and specialist subcontractors.

The company employs more than 700 local staff and says it plans to stay in Portland along with the current executive team. Around half of Viewpoint’s employees work at the company’s headquarters near the east end of the Hawthorne Bridge. It will continue operating under the Viewpoint brand for the foreseeable future.

鈥淥ur operations will remain headquartered in Portland and our global offices will remain as they are,鈥� Viewpoint spokeswoman Simmi Singh Corcoran said. 鈥淭his is a great move for the construction industry. Trimble is a well-respected company and a leader in connecting the field to the enterprise, the transformation that construction is poised to make.鈥�

The new partnership is a 鈥減erfect fit,鈥� Kotzabasakis added, and will help construction companies further integrate digital operations as products from all three companies in the recent purchases are integrated across platforms and updated.

With Viewpoint software, for instance, users have a central workflow platform for end-to-end project management. In the future, Viewpoint will complement recently acquired of e-Builder products such as its cloud-based construction program management software. This will further extend the latter’s capabilities in the hands of general, specialty and heavy civil contractors and provide 鈥渆nd-to-end project transparency.鈥�

Steven Berglund, president and CEO of Trimble, said the acquisitions are 鈥渟trategically significant鈥� and combine well with existing expertise.
鈥�(They) position us to play a unique and central market role in providing comprehensive enterprise and project solutions,鈥� he said.

The transaction is one of the largest ever involving an Oregon tech company. But it pales in comparison to a pair of deals done in recent years. Thermo Fisher Scientific closed on its purchase of Hillsboro-based FEI Corp. for $4.2 billion in 2016, and Siemens closed on its purchase of Wilsonville-based Mentor Graphics for $4.5 billion in 2017.