Boss Insights - Weekly Software Sector M&A Round Up - 19th October 2018

Onex Acquires 42% of Ryan for $317 Million
Toronto, Ontario and Dallas, Texas – 17th October 2018 – Onex Corporation has announced it has acquired a 42% interest in Ryan, LLC for $317 million, which values the company at $1.1 billion. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Ryan is a global tax services and software provider with an integrated suite of federal, state, local and international tax services, and is the largest firm in the world dedicated exclusively to business taxes. Its multi-disciplinary team of more than 2,200 professionals and associates serves over 14,000 clients, including many of the world's most prominent companies. “Onex is the ideal partner for us, given its strong track record and focus on growing companies and supporting the management teams in which it invests,” said G. Brint Ryan, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ryan. “In recent years, we’ve significantly expanded our business, adding new service lines and growing our premium client roster. With Onex’ backing, we’ll continue this momentum to increase the value we bring to our clients.”

https://ir.onex.com/static-files/89e78b3c-4fc3-49ee-be7b-bc4d5edb5dc9

Micron Announces Intent to Acquire Remaining Interest in IM Flash Technologies Joint Venture
Boise, Idaho – 18th October 2018 - Micron Technology, Inc., has announced that the company intends to exercise its right to call Intel's interest in the parties' joint venture, IM Flash Technologies, LLC (IM Flash). "Micron's acquisition of IM Flash demonstrates our strong belief that 3D XPoint technology and other emerging memories will provide a unique differentiator for the company and be an essential solution for new data-hungry applications," said Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. "This investment provides Micron with an established development and manufacturing facility and a highly skilled workforce with a strong track record of innovation and execution." Micron can exercise the call option starting Jan. 1, 2019. The timeline to close the transaction is between six and twelve months after the date Micron exercises the call. At the time of close, Micron expects to pay approximately $1.5 billion in cash for the transaction, dissolving Intel's non-controlling interest in IM Flash as well as IM Flash member debt, which was approximately $1 billion as of Aug. 30, 2018.
http://investors.micron.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1079408&_ga=2.241928833.2067387486.1539967736-623375382.1539967736

SolarWinds Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering
Austin, Texas – 18th October 2018 – SolarWinds, a provider of powerful and affordable IT management software, has announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 25,000,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $15.00 per share. The shares are expected to begin trading on October 19, 2018 on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol “SWI,” and the offering is expected to close on October 23, 2018, subject to customary closing conditions. In addition, SolarWinds has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 3,750,000 shares. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC are acting as joint lead book-running managers for the offering. BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Evercore Group L.L.C., Jefferies LLC, Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc., Nomura Securities International, Inc. and RBC Capital Markets, LLC are acting as joint book-running managers. JMP Securities LLC, KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Mischler Financial Group, Inc., Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Samuel A. Ramirez & Company, Inc. and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc. are acting as co-managers.
https://www.solarwinds.com/company/press-releases/2018-q4/solarwinds-announces-pricing-of-initial-public-offering

Scripps to Acquire Triton for $150 Million
Cincinnati - 17th October 2018 - The E.W. Scripps Company is to acquire Triton, a global digital audio technology and measurement services company, helping Scripps advance its strategies for near- and long-term value creation. Triton serves the growing digital audio marketplace through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business- to-business revenue model. Its data and measurement service is recognized as the currency by which publishers sell digital audio advertising. Scripps President and CEO, Adam Symson, said the acquisition is consistent with the company’s growth strategies and operating performance goals. “Triton positions Scripps well to expand its role in the fast-growing global digital audio marketplace. Triton’s efficient business model, multiple growing revenue streams, competitive advantages and expanding international footprint made this an attractive opportunity.”
http://www.scripps.com/press-releases/1196-scripps-to-acquire-triton-the-industry-leader-in-digital-audio-infrastructure-measurement

WhiteSource Raises $35M to Mainstream Open Source Security Management
New York - 17th October 2018 - WhiteSource, an organisation specialising in continuous open source security management, announced a $35 million funding round led by Susquehanna Growth Equity, with participation by existing investors 83North, M12 - Microsoft Ventures, and Peregrine Ventures. This $35 million Series-C adds to the $11 million raised by WhiteSource in previous financing rounds. "We are now at a stage where the question is not whether or not to use open source components, but how to put in place the solutions and policies to manage them well," said Rami Sass, Co-Founder and CEO of WhiteSource. "Microsoft's acquisition of GitHub for $7.5B showcases that companies have accepted open source as crucial to the software development process, but incidents such as the Equifax data breach underscore the necessity for all companies to protect their products from attacks that would exploit the open source components they are using."
https://resources.whitesourcesoftware.com/news-whitesource/whitesource-raises-35m-to-mainstream-open-source-security-management

Tamasek to Acquire Cyber Security Start-Up, Sygnia, for $250 Million
An Israeli cybersecurity start-up, Sygnia has announced that it is to be acquired by Singapore investment firm, Temasek Holdings, subject to customary signing and closing conditions. The company said that it will collaborate with Temasek and its portfolio companies whilst maintaining its operational independence. Founder and CEO, Shachar Levy, will continue to lead the company. He said in a statement: "Aligning with Temasek will strengthen our capability to provide end to end strategic support to organizations in meeting the spectre of cyber threats and allow us to accelerate building our global reach." Terms of the deal were not disclosed but a source close to the deal reported that Sygnia will be acquired for $250 million.
https://www.temasek.com.sg/en/news-and-views/news-room.html

Twilio to Acquire Email API Platform, SendGrid, for $2 Billion
San Francisco – 15th October 23018 - Twilio and SendGrid today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Twilio to acquire SendGrid in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $2 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2019. “Increasingly, our customers are asking us to solve all of their strategic communications challenges - regardless of channel. Email is a vital communications channel for companies around the world, and so it was important to us to include this capability in our platform," said Jeff Lawson, Twilio's co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. "The two companies share the same vision, the same model and the same values. We believe this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring together the two… communications platforms to create the unquestioned platform of choice for all companies looking to transform their customer engagement.”
https://www.twilio.com/blog/twilio-to-acquire-sendgrid

Mi9 Retail Announces Intent to Acquire MyWebGrocer
Miami, Florida – 15th October 2018 – Mi9 Retail, a provider of end-to-end software solutions for retailers, wholesalers and brands, has announced that it has signed a contract to acquire MyWebGrocer (MWG), a software and digital media company to the grocery and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industries. “Mi9 has a proven track record of successfully integrating best-of-breed retail technology companies, so adding MWG is a natural step for the company,” said Rich Lawson, HGGC CEO and Co-Founder. “We look forward to partnering with the Mi9 Retail management team to help execute their vision for continuing to revolutionize the retail industry through the application of innovative technology.” MWG’s existing sponsor, HGGC, will join Mi9 investors General Atlantic and Respida as investors in Mi9. 
https://mi9retail.com/mi9-retail-announces-intent-to-acquire-mywebgrocer/

Infosys Completes Acquisition of Fluido, the Largest Salesforce Consulting Partner in Nordics
Bengaluru, India and Espoo, Finland - 13th October 2018 - Infosys, a global consulting, technology and next-generation services organisation, has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Fluido, a Salesforce advisor and consulting partner in the Nordics as well as a cloud consulting, implementation and training services company. Fluido, is one of the largest and longest tenured independent Salesforce Platinum Consulting Partners in Europe and an Authorized Salesforce Training Delivery partner in the Nordics. Through this acquisition Infosys strengthens its position as a Salesforce enterprise cloud services provider and enhances its ability to provide clients an unparalleled cloud-first transformation. With offices in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Slovakia, Fluido elevates Infosys’ presence across the Nordics region with developed assets and deep client relationships, a great team and an effective local culture. Fluido customers are represented across industries, such as manufacturing, energy, retail and telecommunications sector.
https://www.infosys.com/newsroom/press-releases/Pages/completes-acquire-salesforce-consulting-partner.aspx

Sitecore to Acquire Innovative Content Marketing Software Vendor Stylelabs
San Francisco, California and Brussels, Belgium – 9th October 2018 – Sitecore®, a digital experience management company, has announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Stylelabs, creator of the Marketing Content Hub® platform. Adding Stylelabs’ platform to Sitecore allows marketing teams to own the entire content lifecycle and understand the impact of specific content assets on individual customers’ behavior, empowering them to deliver transformative experiences throughout the customer journey. “I am thrilled to welcome the entire Stylelabs team to the Sitecore family,” said Mark Frost, CEO of Sitecore. “Companies thrive by exceeding their customers’ expectations. Together, Sitecore and Stylelabs will be the only company that can deliver functionality spanning the entire content lifecycle, from planning to publishing to delivering rich, relevant experiences tailored to customer needs. We’re providing the best end-to-end digital marketing solution in the world to help CMOs and their teams realize the power of content as their most valuable asset to build life-long customer relationships.”
https://www.sitecore.com/en-gb/company/press-and-media/press-releases

19 October 2018