A consortium led by Blackstone Inc has agreed to take control of customer experience software provider Medallia, marking one of the largest realised losses in private equity history for owner Thoma Bravo, according to a report by the Financial Times.
Under the terms of the transaction, Thoma Bravo will lose its entire equity investment in Medallia following its 2021 take-private, while the incoming lender group will inject approximately $150m of new capital to reduce leverage and stabilise the company’s balance sheet.
The investor consortium also includes Apollo Global Management and KKR & Co Inc, both of which were previously exposed to Medallia through financing arrangements and will now assume an ownership role alongside Blackstone.
The deal effectively transfers control of the business from its original private equity owner to its creditors, reflecting broader stress across a cohort of software buyouts completed during the low-rate environment of the early 2020s. Many of these transactions were executed at elevated valuations and subsequently burdened by higher interest costs following aggressive rate hikes.
Medallia, which provides AI-enabled customer experience and analytics software, was taken private in a $6.4bn deal in 2021 but quickly came under pressure as revenue growth slowed and debt servicing costs increased. Rising leverage and additional borrowing further strained the capital structure, prompting negotiations with lenders over a restructuring solution.
The transaction follows increasing concern across the private equity industry over underperforming software assets, particularly those financed during the pandemic-era boom. Higher rates, softer enterprise software spending and rising competitive pressure have all weighed on returns across the sector.
Thoma Bravo has acknowledged that it overpaid for the asset, with its investment now written down to near zero, making it one of the firm’s most significant losses to date. The firm had previously resisted injecting additional capital into the business, instead prioritising redeployment into new investments.
