Global private equity major KKR has sealed the $4.7bn sale of enterprise resource planning software provider Epicor to fellow buyout house Clayton Dubilier & Rice.
The CD&R buyout ends a four-year ownership by KKR, which bought the business from Apax Partners back in 2016.
Apax had picked up Epicor for $3.3bn in May 2011, before subsequently merging it with software business Activant Solutions in a $2bn deal.
KKR’s sale comes more than a year after reports emerged it had hired an investment bank to work on an auction of the business, with a deal value of about $5bn mooted at the time.
The buyout house said that a series of new product releases over the last few years had led to a revenue mix comprising 73% recurring revenue, which includes an SaaS business growth rate of 60% year-to-date.
John Park, head of Americas technology private equity at KKR, said, “Four years ago, we embarked on an ambitious product modernization journey together with Epicor and are incredibly proud of the successes that the company has achieved to date, particularly with its recent cloud releases.
“We are confident that CD&R will provide valuable support as the company continues these product- and customer- centric investments to accelerate growth in the cloud.”
CD&R operating partner Jeff Hawn added, “Epicor’s reputation for quality and performance, and its impressive portfolio of next-generation cloud products, position the company well to accelerate growth in the coming years.
“We look forward to partnering with the Epicor management team to further expand Epicor’s product portfolio as well as make strategic acquisitions to meet customers’ evolving digital transformation needs.”
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