USD 4.5 BN DEAL - SolarWinds to Be Acquired by Silver Lake and Thoma Bravo in a Transaction Valued at $60.10 per Share
SolarWinds to Be Acquired by Silver Lake and Thoma Bravo in a Transaction Valued at $60.10 per Share and Total Equity Value of
SolarWinds to Be Acquired by Silver Lake and Thoma Bravo in a Transaction Valued at $60.10 per Share and Total Equity Value of $4.5 Billion
AUSTIN, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 10/21/15 -- SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI), a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT management software, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by leading private equity technology investment firms Silver Lake Partners and Thoma Bravo, LLC. Under the terms of the agreement, SolarWinds stockholders will receive $60.10 per share or approximately $4.5 billion in cash. The agreement was approved by SolarWinds' Board of Directors following a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives.
"This transaction recognizes the strength of our unique business model and provides our shareholders with immediate and substantial cash value at a compelling premium," said Kevin B. Thompson, President and Chief Executive Officer of SolarWinds. "We remain committed to our customers and to delivering world class products to help IT professionals manage all things IT in today's increasingly performance-driven IT infrastructures. 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."
"The Board of Directors evaluated a wide variety of strategic," said Buzz Waterhouse, a member of the Board of Directors of SolarWinds. "Ultimately, the Board concluded that Silver Lake and Thoma Bravo's offer to acquire SolarWinds is the best way to maximize value for our stockholders."
"SolarWinds is an exceptional franchise, empowering IT professionals to solve a broad range of challenges every day," said Ken Hao and Mike Bingle, Managing Partners at Silver Lake. "We have been impressed by the SolarWinds team and their strong track record of growth. We see significant potential to extend and grow the SolarWinds franchise as a private company."
"Thoma Bravo is excited to partner with the SolarWinds' management team to propel the Company into its next stage of growth," said Orlando Bravo, a managing partner at Thoma Bravo. "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," added Seth Boro, a managing partner at Thoma Bravo.
The purchase price represents a 43.5 percent premium to the closing price of SolarWinds common stock on October 8, 2015, one day prior to SolarWinds' announcement that it was exploring strategic alternatives.
The transaction, which is expected to close in the first calendar quarter of 2016, is subject to approval by SolarWinds stockholders, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is serving as financial advisor, and DLA Piper LLP (US) is serving as legal advisor to SolarWinds. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal advisor to Thoma Bravo and Ropes & Gray LLP is serving as legal advisor to Silver Lake.
About SolarWinds
SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI) provides powerful and affordable hybrid IT infrastructure management software to customers worldwide from Fortune 500(R) enterprises to small businesses, government agencies and educational institutions. We are committed to focusing exclusively on IT Pros, and strive to eliminate the complexity that they have been forced to accept from traditional enterprise software vendors. Regardless of where the IT asset or user sits, SolarWinds delivers products that are easy to find, buy, use, maintain, and scale while providing the power to address all key areas of the infrastructure from on premises to the Cloud. Our solutions are rooted in our deep connection to our user base, which interacts in our thwack(R) online community to solve problems, share technology and best practices, and directly participate in our product development process. Learn more today at http://www.SolarWinds.com/.
About Silver Lake
Silver Lake is the global leader in technology
investing, with over $26 billion in combined assets under management and committed capital. The firm's portfolio of investments collectively generates more than $85 billion of revenue annually and employs more than 170,000 people globally. Silver Lake has a team of approximately 100 investment and value creation professionals located in New York, Menlo Park, San Mateo, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The firm's current portfolio includes leading technology and technology-enabled businesses such as Alibaba Group, Avago, Avaya, Dell, Global Blue, Go Daddy, Hillstone Networks, Intelsat, Interactive Data Corporation, Qunar, Quorum Business Solutions, Red Ventures, Sabre, SMART Modular, SunGard, Vantage Data Centers, Virtu Financial and WME/IMG. For more information about Silver Lake and its entire portfolio, please visit www.silverlake.com.
About Thoma Bravo, LLC
Thoma Bravo is a leading private equity
investment firm building on a 30+ year history of providing equity and strategic support to experienced management teams and growing companies. The firm seeks to create value by collaborating with company management to improve business operations and provide capital to support growth initiatives. Thoma Bravo invests with a particular focus on application and infrastructure software and technology enabled services. The firm currently manages a series of private equity funds representing more than $8.5 billion of equity commitments. For more information, visit www.thomabravo.com.