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Cybersecurity specialist SailPoint’s preliminary public providing is poised handy buyers a multibillion-dollar windfall from a personal fairness deal struck on the top of a report wave of takeovers in 2021 and 2022.
US non-public fairness group Thoma Bravo stands to make greater than $4bn from the IPO, which is anticipated to worth the Texas-based firm at greater than $12bn.
The sum would signify a big paper acquire from a takeover many non-public fairness buyers had nervous was struck at a sky-high valuation that will be weighed down by falling tech valuations.
Thoma Bravo paid $6.9bn for SailPoint in April 2022, about 15 occasions annual gross sales for a corporation that was barely worthwhile on the time.
Fears in regards to the deal’s lofty valuation have been accentuated by surging inflation in 2022 that compelled the Federal Reserve to boost rates of interest to greater than 5 per cent.
The markedly totally different atmosphere wreaked havoc on the private equity business, which has returned minimal quantities of money to its buyers lately as markets for brand spanking new listings have seized up and merger exercise has slowed.
Many analysts anticipated non-public fairness teams akin to Thoma Bravo, which manages $160bn in property and was among the many most lively dealmakers in 2021, can be compelled to carry their investments for longer to justify their buy value. SailPoint’s annualised recurring revenues have roughly doubled to greater than $800mn since Thoma Bravo’s buyout, in keeping with filings.
Thoma Bravo used about $6bn of its buyers’ money to purchase SailPoint. In December 2024, it invested an additional $600mn to pay down SailPoint’s debt in an effort to extend the corporate’s enchantment to shareholders. The deal raised Thoma Bravo’s general fairness funding to $6.6bn.
SailPoint inventory is being provided to buyers at $23 a share, in keeping with Bloomberg, up from a variety of $19 to $21. At SailPoint’s new value vary, Thoma Bravo’s positive factors stand to be greater than $4bn.
Nonetheless, since it isn’t promoting inventory as a part of the providing, the windfall has not been realised and might be uncovered to SailPoint’s efficiency on public markets.
SailPoint will use proceeds of greater than $1bn to repay just about all of its excellent debt. The IPO has attracted anchor buyers Dragoneer Funding Group and AllianceBernstein, which is able to buy about 20 per cent of the providing.
Buoyant inventory markets and easing monetary circumstances imply bankers count on a flurry of listings within the coming months, pushed partly by non-public fairness teams trying to offload a few of their greatest holdings acquired when rates of interest have been near zero.
However the 12 months has begun slowly for dealmaking and IPOs. Shares in US liquid pure fuel exporter Enterprise International, for example, are down nearly 40 per cent because the firm’s debut in mid-January.
SailPoint’s IPO is being intently watched as a helpful gauge of investor urge for food for tech listings after DeepSeek’s cut-price synthetic intelligence breakthrough stunned markets last month.
“Everybody was anticipating the market to be fabulous underneath a Republican administration, nevertheless it hasn’t gone to plan to this point,” stated an individual near the IPO for area and defence contractor Karman Holdings, which can also be anticipated to start out buying and selling this week.
Karman has set a valuation vary of $18 to $20 a share for a $400mn IPO, implying a totally diluted market capitalisation of $2.5bn.