Silver Lake, a global leader in technology investing, will make a $1 billion investment in Splunk Inc., provider of a data-to-everything platform, in convertible senior notes to support the continued transformation of its business. Splunk expects to use the proceeds from the new investment to fund growth initiatives and manage its capital structure, including a newly authorized share repurchase program of up to $1 billion that will be executed over time.
“We’ve significantly evolved our business since we began our transformation to become a cloud-first company over two years ago, and today’s announcement reaffirms the strength of our business fundamentals, cloud strategy and high-growth trajectory,” said Doug Merritt, president and CEO of Splunk. “Silver Lake has a strong reputation and track record of investing in innovative technology companies, and with their support, we are accelerating toward our goals as we deliver the most scalable and powerful data platform in the cloud.”
“We have long admired Splunk’s world-class team and technology, and we believe the company is now at an important inflection point,” said Kenneth Hao, chairman and managing partner of Silver Lake. “It has become increasingly clear that a cloud-driven transformation is critical to modernization and Splunk is ideally positioned to help organizations throughout the world manage the complexity associated with this transition. We are confident in the opportunities ahead and eager to work with Doug and his team to support Splunk’s next phase of growth.”
“Ken brings more than 30 years of experience in technology investing and working with management teams to build and grow great companies, and we are excited to welcome him to the Splunk Board,” said Graham Smith, chair of the Splunk Board. “Through this partnership with Silver Lake, Splunk is well positioned to build on the momentum the team has generated and continue to enable customers to break barriers across IT, Security and DevOps while driving sustainable value for our stockholders.”
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is acting as lead financial advisor and Centerview Partners is also acting as financial advisor to Splunk, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz are serving as Splunk’s legal advisors in the transaction. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is serving as legal advisor to Silver Lake.