Perth's Micromine sold for $900m

A mining software company established 36 years ago by Perth geologist Graeme Tuder has been sold to a US company for $900 million, setting a new record for WA's tech sector.

Aspen Technology, which is listed on the NASDAQ exchange in the US, said overnight it would pay $900 million in cash ($US623 million) for MICROMINE.

The sale comes nearly four years after Sydney-based Potentia Capital acquired a majority stake in Micromine from Mr Tuder.

Since that deal, Micromine has bought two more businesses - Queensland company Precision Mining and WA mining software business Alastri.

Micromine was established in 1986 and has grown to have 280 employees across 22 global offices.

This includes more than 100 staff in Perth, making it one of the largest employers on the Business News’ listing of Perth technology companies.

Its software is used by about 800 companies across 2,000 sites globally.

The sale to AspenTech will bring an end to the Tuder family's involvement - Mr Tuder and his daughter Claire Tuder (who had a stint as chief executive) had until now been non-executive directors but are expected to leave those roles once the deal closes. 

The Micromine sale continues a long-running trend that has seen Perth-based tech success stories bought by larger national and international groups.

This has included mining software companies MiPlan, Minetec, SurpacMinex and Fractal Technologies, as well as tech firms in other sectors, such as Agworld, SEQTA Software and ClickSend.

AspenTech president and chief executive Antonio Pietri said the purchase would support digitalization of the metals and mining industry.

“The majority of organizations in the mining industry are in a nascent stage of digitalization,” Mr Pietri said.

“Accelerating their digital initiatives through a comprehensive suite of software applications and the expertise from AspenTech is a unique opportunity for our customers.”

Mr Pietri said Micromine’s solutions span the breadth of the mining cycle from geological exploration and data management to resource estimation, mine design, planning, scheduling and production control,” said.

“Combining AspenTech’s product portfolio and worldwide reach with Micromine’s mission-critical technology and leadership in the mining industry will equip customers with a comprehensive offering and the end-to-end ability to drive efficiencies across the entire mining value chain, while helping them meet the dual challenge,” he said.

Micromine chief executive Andrew Birch said the company’s vision was to create an ecosystem that connects experts across the exploration and mining value chain.

“Micromine solutions complement AspenTech solutions perfectly with resultant capabilities of the whole combined company that are greater than the sum of the parts,” Mr Birch said.

“Joining forces with AspenTech further reinforces this vision and will be the key to delivering the next generation of efficiencies in the mining sector.”

Global investment bank Goldman Sachs & Co and Perth-based advisory firm Atrico were financial advisors and DLA Piper was legal counsel to AspenTech.

JP Morgan was financial advisor and Johnson Winter & Slattery was legal counsel to Micromine, Potentia Capital and the other sellers.

AspenTech said the acquisition was expected to close in the fiscal second quarter of 2023, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals.