Francisco Partners Signs Major Deal for Energy Software Firm
The private-equity firm is buying Quorum Software from Thoma Bravo
Private-equity firm Francisco Partners struck a deal for Quorum Software, a maker of software for the oil-and-gas industry owned by buyout firm Thoma Bravo.
The details
The deal is expected to value Quorum at $2.4 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter. A transaction was announced Tuesday, confirming an earlier report from The Wall Street Journal.
Houston-based Quorum’s software helps customers across energy sectors in areas including financial planning, well management and land management, according to its website.
Thoma bought Quorum from private-equity firm Silver Lake for an undisclosed amount in 2018.
Quorum scaled quickly under Thoma’s ownership. The business pursued deals, including a merger with a Thoma portfolio company, Aucerna, and acquisition of Energy Components, a piece of the Finnish software business Tietoevry, to create a bigger leader in the energy software space.
The context
Other deals between buyout firms have been struck this week.
Clearlake Capital said Monday it would buy a stake in healthcare software firm Modernizing Medicine, from Warburg Pincus. Genstar Capital also announced a deal for a controlling stake in First Eagle Investment Management, from its private-equity backers Blackstone and Corsair Capital.
Overall activity is at multidecade lows, however. Deal announcements in the first two months of the year were down over 26% from 2024, according to Dealogic. It is the fewest deal announcements over the same period since 2005.
Francisco Partners focuses its investments on technology and technology-enabled businesses.
About a year ago, it bought Jama Software from shareholders including Insight Partners and Madrona Ventures for $1.2 billion.
“Francisco Partners had already done a lot of work in the sector before we connected, and so this made a nice match,” Quorum CEO Paul Langenbahn said in an interview.
Write to Lauren Thomas at lauren.thomas@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
Quorum pursued deals including an acquisition of Energy Components, a piece of the Finnish software business Tietoevry. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said Quorum acquired a piece of Energy Components. (Corrected on March 4)