Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Dassault Systemes SA, whose software is used to design cars and aircraft, agreed to pay about $600 million cash for part of International Business Machines Corp.’s sales and customer support unit, its biggest acquisition.

Dassault Systemes rose as much as 7.6 percent in Paris, the biggest intraday gain in three months, after unveiling plans to buy the IBM business that sells and supports its Product Lifecycle Management software, including customer contracts. IBM, the world’s biggest computer-services company, and Dassault Systemes aim to complete the deal by the second quarter of next year, the companies said in a statement today.

“It’s an excellent financial operation,” Aurel BGC in Paris wrote in a note to investors. “It unifies the channels of distribution for large accounts and reinforces the partnership with IBM.”

The purchase will help the French company expand in the market for software used for designing industrial products. Velizy Villacoublay, France-based Dassault Systemes gets almost half of sales from automakers and aerospace companies including Toyota Motor Corp. and Boeing Co., which have suffered from the global economic slowdown. IBM has sold businesses as the global recession led corporations to scale back on technology spending.

“We now will have a well-integrated sales team to engage with our large and very large clients,” Dassault Systemes Chief Executive Officer Bernard Charles said on a conference call today. “We will work directly with an additional over 1,000 customers in aerospace, automotive, engineering, manufacturing, shipbuilding industries.”

Shares Advance

Dassault Systemes rose 7 percent to 40.92 euros at 9:29 a.m. in Paris, bringing its gain this year to 27 percent. IBM shares fell 0.2 percent to $120.11 in the U.S. yesterday.

Dassault Systemes Chief Financial Officer Thibault de Tersant said in February the company planned to seek acquisitions this year, using part of the 640 million euros ($953 million) of net cash it had on its balance sheet at the end of 2008.

The deal is Dassault Systemes’ biggest acquisition since it was founded in 1981, C.J. Lin, a Shanghai-based spokeswoman for the software maker, said by phone today.

The purchase “will be accretive on both operating margin and on earnings,” Charles said. “It will be accretive from 2010,” assuming the deal is completed on schedule, he said.

Dassault Systemes’ software is used to design products ranging from mobile phones to automobiles and passenger aircraft. They also allow manufacturers to simulate engineering problems, as well as plan production virtually by running tasks such as assembly simulation and modeling welding lines.

IBM Disposals

Europe’s auto market last year contracted the most since 1993, and Boeing, the world’s No. 2 commercial-plane maker, last week reported a third-quarter loss that was bigger than analysts estimated and reduced its full-year profit forecast.

As part of the agreement, Dassault Systemes will be established as an IBM Global Alliance Partner. IBM and Dassault Systemes said they plan to continue to jointly invest in developing, deploying and supporting lifecycle management products for customers worldwide.

“Today’s agreement positions both our companies for growth in the PLM space, allowing us to focus on our core competencies and better serve our clients,” Steve Mills, head of IBM’s software division, said in the statement.

IBM sold its UniVerse and UniData businesses to Rocket Software earlier this month. The Armonk, New York-based company reported in October that signed services contracts, an indicator of future business, dropped 7 percent to $11.8 billion in the third quarter, the lowest level in six quarters.

To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Lee Wai Yee in Hong Kong at wlee37@bloomberg.net; Tim Culpan in Taipei at tculpan1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 27, 2009 04:39 EDT