Permira, CPPIB Poised to Take Informatica Private in $5 Billion Deal
Deal would be largest U.S. leverage buyout so far this year
Permira and CPPIB would pay around $48 to $50 a share for the Redwood City, Calif., data-software company in a deal that could be announced as soon as Tuesday, the people said.
A buyout at that price would value Informatica at more than $5 billion. The company’s shares closed Monday at $45.83.
Informatica helps companies organize and analyze broad swaths of information, tapping the growing demand for help with managing what is known as big data. The company reported revenue of around $1 billion in 2014, up about 11%.
The Wall Street Journal reported in January that the company was working with investment bankers and had made contact with potential buyers.
Also in January, Elliott Management Corp. revealed that it owned about 8% of Informatica. The hedge fund said it sees the company as “significantly undervalued” and that it had initiated talks with Informatica’s management and board of directors regarding “steps to maximize shareholder value.” Elliott said in February that it has lifted its stake to 9.4%.
Software companies have been targeted in a string of private-equity buyouts in recent months. In December, Thoma Bravo LLC completed its acquisition of Compuware Corp. for about $2.5 billion and separately teamed up with an arm of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to buy Riverbed Technology Inc. for about $3.6 billion. Compuware and Riverbed were both put in play following separate takeover bids for each company by Elliott.
Smaller players are finding themselves in the cross hairs too. Last month, Insight Venture Partners completed its $273 million acquisition of cloud-based software maker E2open Inc., and Vector Capital completed its $268 million acquisition of Saba Software Inc.