US investment firm Silver Lake and Canadian pension fund CPPIB have made a bid for SAP subsidiary Qualtrics. They have $12.4 billion (11.6 billion euros) left for the customer experience (CX) player.
This follows an announcement to stock market regulator SEC. SAP announced earlier this year that it wanted to divest its shares in Qualtrics as part of a repositioning of the company. SAP currently holds 71 percent of the shares. The ERP giant has also listed Qualtrics, since its $8 billion acquisition in 2018, on the Nasdaq exchange in the interim.
Takeover bid
The American investor and the Canadian pension fund offer $12.4 billion for the acquisition of Qualtrics, the filing to the SEC states. This puts the average price per share at $18.15. This is 73 percent more than the closing price before the announcement. Silver Lake, incidentally, already holds a 4.1 percent stake in Qualtrics.
Multiple candidates
According to the Financial Times, Silver Lake and CPPIB are not the only candidates for the acquisition. Two other undisclosed companies are also interested in a takeover. However, Qualtrics will be negotiating exclusively with Silver Lake and CPPIB over the next week. Should the deal succeed, the acquisition is expected to be one of the largest this year. Especially as the market for buyouts has become difficult due to macroeconomic developments.
Also read: SAP wants to cut 3,000 jobs, considers Qualtrics sale
1 hour ago
