Silver Lake and Thoma Bravo acquire SolarWinds for $US4.5b
IT management software company, SolarWinds, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by private equity technology investment firms, Silver Lake Partners and Thoma Bravo.
Under the terms of the agreement, SolarWinds stockholders will receive $US60.10 per share, or about $US4.5 billion in cash. The agreement was approved by SolarWinds’ board of directors following a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives.
SolarWinds CEO and president, Kevin Thompson, said, in a statement, that the transaction recognises the strength of the company’s business model and provides its shareholders with immediate and substantial cash value at a compelling premium.
“Becoming a private company will provide SolarWinds with optimal operating flexibility to execute on its long-term strategy of providing superior products for IT and Dev Ops Pros all over the world. We are extremely excited about partnering with Silver Lake and Thoma Bravo in the next chapter of the SolarWinds story,” he said.
SolarWinds board of directors board member, Buzz Waterhouse, said it evaluated a wide variety of strategic alternatives and ultimately concluded that Silver Lake and Thoma Bravo’s offer to acquire SolarWinds is the best way to maximise value for its stockholders.
Silver Lake managing partners, Ken Hao and Mike Bingle, said the organisation has been impressed by the SolarWinds team and its strong track record of growth and claims it sees significant potential to extend and grow the SolarWinds franchise as a private company.
“We look forward to building upon SolarWinds’ existing market leadership in network performance monitoring while also accelerating its current growth initiatives in Cloud, hybrid and MSP environments,” Thoma Bravo managing partn, Seth Boro, added.
The transaction is expected to close in the first calendar quarter of 2016, and is subject to approval by SolarWinds stockholders, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
