Jim Armitage: Who’s next in the software merger frenzy?

Cambridge-based Aveva’s £3 billion takeover by Schneider Electric has got investment bankers sharpening their pencils — and bonus hopes — as the big engineers look to bulk up the specialist software that runs their operations.

Top of the list has to be Aveva’s rival Bentley Systems, a privately owned outfit controlled by five brothers in the US.

Rumour has it that Hexagon — a recent consolidator itself — wouldn’t say no to suitors either —though, with a market value on the Nordic exchange of 140 billion kronor (£13 billion), it’s a big bite. Could a giant like Siemens, ABB or Honeywell be interested?

Takeovers of software groups by manufacturers aren’t always a success. Who could forget the $11.7 billion (£9 billion) buyout of Britain’s Autonomy by Hewlett Packard?

In one of the worst deals of the century, HP wrote down its value by $8.8 billion.