Software company N-Able explores sale, sources say

SolarWinds

29/05/2024 14:35

By Anirban Sen and Milana Vinn
       May 29 (Reuters) - N-Able  NABL.N , a U.S. provider of
information technology software with a market value of $2.3
billion, is exploring a sale after attracting acquisition
interest, people familiar with the matter said.
    The Burlington, Massachusetts-based company, which counts
two private equity firms - Silver Lake and Thoma Bravo - as
major investors, is running a sale process in which peers in the
software sector and private equity firms are participating, the
sources said.
    One of its suitors is cybersecurity company Barracuda
Networks, which is owned by buyout firm KKR  KKR.N , the sources
added, cautioning that no deal is certain and asking not to be
identified because the matter is confidential. KKR acquired
Barracuda from Thoma Bravo for about $4 billion in 2022. 
    Silver Lake, N-Able, and KKR declined to comment. Thoma
Bravo and Barracuda did not immediately respond to requests for
comment. 
    N-Able was spun out in 2021 from management software firm
SolarWinds  SWI.N , which had been in turn acquired by Silver
Lake and Thoma Bravo for $4.5 billion in 2016. The two buyout
firms now each own about a third of N-Able.
    The company makes software used by informational technology
companies to provide services to businesses, such as monitoring
and security. According to its website, N-Able counts 25,000
service providers among its customers. 
    Global take-private deal volumes have jumped nearly 40% so
far this year compared to the same period in 2023, according to
Dealogic. 
    Education software firms PowerSchool  PWSC.N  and
Instructure  INST.N  are currently in talks with buyout firms to
be taken private, Reuters has previously reported. Financial
technology firm Envestnet  ENV.N  is also exploring a sale after
receiving acquisition interest from potential buyers, Reuters
reported in April. 

 (Reporting by Anirban Sen and Milana Vinn in New York; Editing
by Lincoln Feast)
 ((Anirban.Sen@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: @asenjourno; Reuters
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