It’s a bit unusual to break meaningful tech news on a Sunday night, but that’s what happened last night when private equity firm Thoma Bravo announced it was buying Anaplan, the SaaS financial planning tool, for a cool $ 10.7 billion. The company closed Friday with a market capitalization of $ 7.4 billion.
The Anaplan share price has been on a rough run over the past six months, with the price falling above 22%. Last year, it went down a modest 7%, but the private equity firm saw an opportunity and took it, offering Anaplan what it is after its peak price in the last six months to close the deal.
In its most recent earnings report earlier this month, the company reported revenue up 30% to $ 163 million, but losses grew to $ 53.8 million compared to $ 41.5 million in the same quarter last year. Anaplan predicted modest increase in earnings for the next quarter, and the stock has actually risen since the report.
That 30% growth rate is right in the sweet spot of private equity firms, which gives them something to work with. Thoma Bravo’s managing partner Holden Spaht likes the financial planning service at hand and he thinks his company can help it grow more.
“We’ve been following Anaplan for years and have seen the incredible value they bring to clients through their best-in-class planning platform. We look forward to taking advantage of Thoma Bravo’s extensive operational and investment expertise and enterprise software to support Anaplan and its future growth. to support, “Spaht said in a statement.
That’s a lot of executives talking to say they love the company, they’ve pursued it over the years and jumped at the chance when they saw the opportunity.
Anaplan was a hot company for a time in the 2016-2018 time frame, offering a more modern way for companies to do financial planning and reporting without using Excel spreadsheets to do it.
It launched in 2006, raising nearly $ 300 million along the way. Its last increase was $ 60 million at a valuation of $ 1.5 billion, which feels pretty decent today, but in 2017 it was a striking valuation. The company went public to much fanfare in 2018 to close the first day at 42%.
The deal is expected to close sometime in the first half of this year, but is subject to regulatory oversight and shareholder approval. The Anaplan Board has already approved the transaction.
Anaplan shares have risen over 7.5% in trading.
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