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competitors will begin to react in 2021, and we'll see more partnerships and M&A ramping up.
This will lead to increasing friction, and at the same time opportunity, between APM and EHS, and quality too. The focus on APM 4.0 will shift to a broader view in terms of Operational Excellence (OE 4.0) and Operational Risk Management (ORM).
Our number two prediction was the following: Let's start by looking at what we said at the beginning of the year. It should be noted that these are announced agreements and have not been settled at time of publishing.
Blackstone's acquisition of Sphera, a leading provider of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) software, data, and consulting services, from Genstar Capital for $1.4 billion. Hexagon AB's acquisition of Infor's global Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) business for approximately $2.75 billion. The acquisition of smart manufacturing supplier Plex Systems, Inc.® for $2.22 billion by Rockwell Automation®. SparkCognition's acquisition of Maana a leading digital knowledge platform company (acquisition value not published). Four recent M&A announcements have prompted us to catch up on our view of where the industry is heading and follow up on our earlier predictions for 2021.