Hellman Friedman Buys Datatel
The PE firm’s education software play takes it into two spaces simultaneously that have been eyed by financial buyers this year.
November 9, 2009
Hellman & Friedman, the San Francisco-based private equity firm, has agreed to buy Datatel, an education software company.
Hellman affiliates JMI Equity and Datatel management and employees will buy the company from PE firm Thoma Bravo and its other co-investors, Trident Capital, HarbourVest Partners and JPMorgan Asset Management for terms undisclosed.
PE has been making moves for software and, separately, education companies this year. Last month, Sterling Capital Partners purchased assets of two multimedia education companies, Educational Resources Inc. and Sunburst Technology Corporation. Some PE and software plays include Vector Capital’s all-cash bid for Corel Corporation and SumTotal was earlier this year sold to Vista Equity Partners. Further, McAfee and other behemoth software companies have led consolidation plays in the space.
Recently, Hellman & Friedman unveiled a new management structure while it simultaneously revealed the closure of its seventh buyout fund, a $8.8billion vehicle.
The new management structure has Philip U. Hammarskjold named chief executive, while his predecessor, Brian Powers, will become its chairman. Patrick Healy is now deputy CEO and Warren Hellman, its founder, will remain on as an advisor.
Earlier this year, Thoma Bravo closed a $822 million fund—its’ first since splitting from Bryan Cressey, a partner—and it bought Entrust Inc., a digital security firm. Other Thoma Bravo investments include Activant Solutions, Attachmate Corp., Consona Corp., Flexera Software, Hyland Software, iTera Inc., Manatron Inc. and Vision Solutions.
Calls seeking comment were not returned by press time.
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