SoftwareONE Acquires COMPAREX
Financial Information*
- Financial terms not disclosed
Transaction Facts
- Software management company SoftwareONE announced today it has reached an agreement to acquire IT service provider COMPAREX, purchasing 100 percent of shares in the company.
- The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2019.
martinwolf Analysis
- Joint Expansion: Following the combination, SoftwareOne will help customers manage ~$11.5B in software purchases.The combined company will have a headcount of over 5,500 employees across 88 countries.
- Revenue Growth: According to their joint press release, the COMPAREX Group generated revenues of ~$2.9B in 2017/2018. Meanwhile, SoftwareOne has reported revenues of ~6.9B annually.
- Private Equity Support: In August 2015, private equity giant KKR purchased a 25 percent stake in SoftwareOne to help fund future M&A while the four founding partners of the company retained a 75 percent stake and full management. Ever since, SoftwareOne has been making several acquisitions. In November 2016, the company acquired House of Lync, and just last week, the company announced its acquisition of ISI Expert.
- Business Strategy: Its recent acquisition of ISI Expert, a Paris-based managed service provider spread across four subsidiaries in France, reveals more about SoftwareONE’s strategic initiatives. As margins from selling licenses have begun to contract, licensing service providers have been looking to adjacent technology segments for more stable future growth. As a result, SoftwareOne has been actively growing its managed services and cloud businesses through M&A.
- Extended Legacy: In June, SoftwareONE CEO and co-founder Patrick Winter suddenly passed away. Winter, who co-founded the company in 1985 and helped grow it into an international software management powerhouse, left a lasting impression on many. martinwolf President and Founder Marty Wolf remembered Winter as a “strong businessman” who “built a business in one of the most difficult segments of the channel.” In remembrance of his legacy, the company has enhanced its management team and has strengthened what Winter built up nearly 30 years ago.
For more information about this transaction, click here to read the press release.
*Financial information from the article.
To receive instant analysis on the day’s business news from Tim Mueller, contact [email protected]. Check out a list of diverse assets for sale on SBN’s IT M&A Marketplace powered by IT ExchangeNet here.
IT ExchangeNet is the industry-leading marketplace for matching buyers with sellers of mid-market IT businesses. Founded in 1998 by technology CEOs and M&A professionals, IT ExchangeNet is an efficient marketplace for owners of mid-market IT businesses seeking buyers or strategic partners. ExchangeNet follows a disciplined and highly targeted process, bringing buyers and sellers together to close deals with transaction values of less than $25 million.
