Evening Brief – 03.08.23
Take-private deals in the software industry have been noteworthy over the past two-plus quarters, largely resilient to factors affecting PE-led deals in other industries, including weak market performance, valuations, high interest rates and inflation. Despite economic volatility, these types of transactions represent a large and growing share of overall M&A activity.
Buyout groups Thoma Bravo, which recently took Coupa Software private for $8bn and Vista Equity Partners, which acquired Knowbe4 for $4.6bn, have turned to private lenders and large equity backers to put together financing packages for large takeovers of software companies.
Among other notable deals, a private equity consortium led by Permira and Hellman & Friedman acquired Zendesk for $10.2 billion.
The transactional volume is likely to grow given many newly public companies are trading below their initial public offering prices. When public companies underperform, private equity firms looking for value creation opportunities are ready to take them private.
Private equity firm Silver Lake Management’s newest target is no exception. Survey software maker Qualtrics International received a $12.4 billion go-private offer from Silver Lake and Canada’s largest pension fund – Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) – in what would be one of the largest buyouts of a publicly held company this year.
Qualtrics shares have gained nearly 9% since the start of February when Silver Lake first expressed its interest in taking the company private.