The cloud-based human resources applications developer Ultimate Software has announced that it has agreed to be bought by the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman for close to $11bn.
The investor group, which made the company a $331.50 per share all cash offer, also includes Blackstone Group LP, GIC Pte LTD, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and JMI Equity.
As enterprises make the shift to cloud-based applications to manage their payroll and human resources, HR software makers are in hot demand.
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Ultimate Software competes with Workday, Automatic Data Processing and Oracle in the HR software space where it sells software to help companies manage their employees.
HR software
The human capital management industry is expected to reach $22.17bn by 2023 up from $13bn in 2016.
There have been a number of big deals among HR software makers during the last decade with the last big deal occurring in 2011 when SAP SE bought the human resources company SuccessFactors for $3.4bn. Workday also acquired the company Adaptive Insights for around $1.55bn a week before it was scheduled to go public last year.
In 2018, Ultimate Software generated over $1.1bn in revenue and the company expects its deal with Hellman & Friedman to close by mid-2019. Once the deal is completed, the company will be led by its existing CEO Scott Scherr who praised the deal in a statement, saying:
“Our customers will benefit from our ability to bring new features and services to market more quickly, while still enjoying the same high level of service they have with Ultimate today, or better, with new innovations to our offerings. Hellman & Friedman is in full alignment with our vision to serve the global HR market, while preserving our unique company culture and mission.”
Via Reuters
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