Thoma Bravo, KKR bid for Flexera Software

Flexera Software, backed by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and TA Associates, may remain owned by private equity.

Bids for the Itasca, Illinois-based company were due the week of June 17, three sources familiar with the process told Buyouts.

Bank of America is advising Flexera on the sale process.

Flexera produces between $160 million and $170 million Ebitda and is expected to sell for up to $2.5 billion, people said.

Thoma Bravo, which sold the company in 2011, bid for Flexera, the sources said. KKR also made an offer, people said.

Flexera, a software company with supply chain and licensing components, provides IT services for businesses, including software security, cloud management and software-as-a-service management.

Thoma Bravo, which originally bought Flexera in 2008 for $200 million, is unlikely to offer the highest bid for the business, the sources said. Thoma Bravo sold the company in 2011 after a three-year hold. The deal produced a 4.6x return for the tech-focused buyout shop, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time.

In March 2018, TA took a minority position in Flexera. Boston-headquartered TA is likely to roll over some equity to partner with Flexera’s new owner, the sources said.

TA and Ontario Teachers have already gotten some of their money back. A few months before launching the current sale process, Flexera paid out a dividend, believed to be more than $200 million, according to a source. Jefferies led the dividend recap, the person said.

Earlier this month, Flexera completed an add-on of RISC Networks, a SaaS-based analytics platform that helps companies speed their migration to the cloud.

TA Associates closed its thirteenth fund, TA XIII, on its $8.5 billion hard cap in May 2019. The firm makes growth equity and buyout investments across business services, consumer, financial services, healthcare and technology industries.

TA Associates, Flexera, KKR, Thoma Bravo and Ontario Teachers declined to comment.

Action Item: TA’s Flexera’s deal team is led by Managing Directors Ashutosh Agrawal at
ashu@ta.com and Harry D. Taylor at htaylor@ta.com.