Private equity firm Thoma Bravo is acquiring data analysis software maker Talend for $2.4 billion, the companies have disclosed.
This is M&A deal number 169 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2021. See all technology M&A deals for 2021 and 2020 listed here.
Still, there's a chance additional bidders for Talend could emerge. Indeed, the Thoma Bravo deal involves a 30-day "go shop" period -- which allows Talend to solicit alternative bidders for the software company.
Talend and Thoma Bravo: Software and Private Equity Business Backgrounds
Like most software companies, Talend has been shifting aggressively toward a cloud services software model. The company's cloud data ingestion service, called Stitch, can move data from over 130 sources into a data warehouse of a customer's choice with no coding required, Talend asserts.
Key Talend data center and cloud services partners include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Databricks and Snowflake, among others.
Thoma Bravo, meanwhile, is best known within the IT channel for acquiring MSP-centric software companies such as ConnectWise, SolarWinds and Sophos, among many others. (SolarWinds has rebranded its MSP software business as N-able ahead of an expected spin-out of the division.)
Thoma Bravo Acquires Talend: Executive Perspectives
In a prepared statement about the Thoma Bravo deal, Steve Singh, chairman of Talend, said:
"We are pleased to move forward with Thoma Bravo, as the transaction will deliver compelling and certain cash value to Talend shareholders and significant strategic, long-term benefits for our customers, employees, and other stakeholders. Our Board is focused on driving shareholder value and has periodically evaluated potential transaction alternatives in the context of our standalone plan over the past several years. With the successful advancement of our transformation effort led by our CEO over the past year, the Talend Board and management team conducted a targeted process with potential financial and strategic parties to determine the best path forward for the Company. We believe the transaction with Thoma Bravo validates the Talend team's success in building a data market leader."
Added Christal Bemont, CEO of Talend:
"The last twelve months have underscored the importance of digital transformation and the unique and vital role Talend plays in ensuring enterprises can trust the data fueling their business. I am pleased with how the team has executed through the challenges of 2020 and successfully delivered on the strategic initiatives and targets we laid out a year ago. As we look forward, the transaction with Thoma Bravo – a firm with a successful track record of helping the companies it acquires achieve long-term, sustainable growth – will provide Talend with additional capital, resources, and expertise to execute against our mission and leverage a large market opportunity to help all organizations become data-driven. I want to thank the Talend team for their dedication to our company and customers; it is the incredible women and men of Talend who have helped build a leading platform and made this exciting transaction possible."
Noted Seth Boro, a managing partner at Thoma Bravo:
"We are thrilled to partner with the management team at Talend to continue to build upon their leadership position in the cloud data integration market. We are confident we can apply our experiences working with market-leading software companies to accelerate Talend's growth and complete its transition to the cloud."
Concluded Chip Virnig, a partner at Thoma Bravo:
"Data has become critical to every facet of the world, and Talend's data fabric empowers organizations to operationalize their data. Talend has built the leading cloud-native orchestration platform that helps organizations bring together all their data, wherever it may sit, to solve their most complex problems."
