Ultima Software Group, which provides cloud-based workforce management services and competes with Oracle, among others, agrees with the proposal of an investment consortium to become a private company again. This is therefore a takeover involving an amount of USDÂ 11Â billion, or EURÂ 9.62Â billion.
The deal was announced this morning, after the board unanimously approved it. The consortium behind the acquisition is led by investors such as Hellman & Friedman and the Blackstone Group. They offer $331.50 (€290.28) per share. This is 32 percent more than the average share price of Ultima over the past thirty days and 19 percent more than the shares were worth last Friday.
Great momentum
The price tag is a reflection of Ultima’s established market position. Founded in 1990, the company offers a wide range of cloud services. They help HR departments to carry out their daily activities. From recruitment to salary management, complemented by a range of analytical tools, the company makes it easy to monitor a company’s workforce.
Earlier this year, Ultima expanded its offer by taking over the French startup PeopleDoc for 300 million dollars (262.69 million euros). It developed a service that enables HR teams to manage all their documents in one place and to automate related tasks. This is one of the reasons why Ultima’s momentum is so great.
Making your business more competitive
Last quarter, the company had a turnover of 287.8 million dollars (252.01 million euros), 22 percent more than in the same quarter a year earlier. In addition, it managed to retain 96 percent of its customers. This combination makes Ultima one of the fastest growing players in the HR segment of the cloud market. It competes with Oracle, SAP and ADP, among others.
The hope of the new owners of Ultima is to be able to maintain this momentum. As soon as the consortium has completed the acquisition, which according to press agency Bloomberg should be later this year, the management will stay on. However, a merger with Kronos, which was acquired by the same consortium in 2007 and also offers HR services, is envisaged. This would enable Ultima to compete better with the largest players in the segment.
This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.