Informatica To Be Taken Private By Permira, CPPIB In $5.3 Bln Deal

(RTTNews) - Data integration software provider Informatica Corp. (INFA) said Tuesday that it has agreed to be taken private by a company controlled by private equity firm Permira Advisers LLC and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board or CPPIB for about $5.3 billion. The deal is said to be the largest U.S. leveraged buyout so far this year.

Under the terms of the deal, shareholders of Redwood City, California-based Informatica will receive $48.75 in cash for each share of the company's common stock held by them. The per-share offer price represents a 6.4 percent premium to Informatica's closing stock price of $45.83 on Monday.

Media reports had earlier indicated that two private equity consortia had submitted offers to acquire Informatica.

Informatica has said it is pursuing four distinct billion-dollar market opportunities - cloud integration, MDM, data integration for Big Data initiatives and data security.

Brian Ruder, a Permira Partner and Co-Head of the company's Technology Sector Team said, "Informatica is an outstanding company and a clear leader in the essential field of enterprise data solutions. We are very excited about the Company's ongoing transition to cloud and subscription based services, as well as its continued pursuit of four separate billion dollar market opportunities in cloud integration, master data management, data integration for next generation analytics, and data security."

Informatica's board of directors has approved the merger deal and resolved to recommend that the company's shareholders also adopt the agreement. The company expects the transaction to be completed in either the second or third quarter of 2015, subject to approval by shareholders.

In late January, Informatica reported a 9 percent increase in profit for the fourth quarter from last year, boosted by double-digit growth in software revenue. Software revenues grew 12 percent from last year, with license revenues rising 7 percent and subscription revenue surging 53 percent.

Founded in 1985, Permira advises funds with a total committed capital of about 25 billion euros and has made over 200 private equity investments. Since 1997, over 33 percent of the Permira funds' investments have been in the core sector of Technology.

Toronto-based CPPIB is an investment management organization that invests the funds not needed by the Canada Pension Plan or CPP to pay current benefits on behalf of 18 million contributors and beneficiaries. At December 31, 2014, the CPP Fund totaled C$238.8 billion.

Earlier, the biggest leveraged buyout deal this year was the acquisition of gym operator Life Time Fitness, Inc. (LTM) by affiliates of private equity firms Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. and TPG Capital for $72.10 per share, in a deal valued at more than $4 billion.

Informatica's rival and business software maker Tibco Software Inc. (TIBX) said in late September 2014 that it agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners for about $4.3 billion, including the assumption of net debt.

INFA is trading at $47.79, up $1.96 or 4.28 percent on a volume of 18.82 million shares.