US private equity group Silver Lake, in partnership with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Canada’s largest pension fund, has made a $12.4 billion offer to acquire experience management software company Qualtrics, according to a report by the Financial Times.
US private equity group Silver Lake, in partnership with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Canada’s largest pension fund, has made a $12.4 billion offer to acquire experience management software company Qualtrics, according to a report by the Financial Times.
German software group SAP – Qualtrics’ majority shareholder – acquired the businessfor $8bn in 2018 and listed it in the US three years later.
SAP is now looking to divest its 71 per cent holding in Qualtrics, which provides software tools for companies to carry out customer and employee surveys, as part of a wider restructuring plan.
After SAP notified shareholders of its plan to divest its stake, Silver Lake, which already owns a 4.1 per cent stake in the company, expressed interest in taking the Utah-based software firm private. The firm has now partnered with CPPIB to propose an $18.15 per share cash offer, which represents a 6 per cent premium to Friday’s closing share price, and a 73 per cent premium over Qualtrics’ trading value prior to SAP notifying shareholders of its intention to divest its stake.
Silver Lake and CPPIB now have until 15 March 15 to exclusively negotiate the takeover with SAP and Qualtrics, although two other unnamed bidders have also made takeover proposals to Qualtrics, the company said in a securities filing on Monday.
