BMC Goes Private in $6.9B Deal

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BMC Software, a Houston, Texas-based enterprise software provider that specializes in IT and business service management and administration products, announced today that it is being acquired by a private equity group led by Bain Capital for approximately $6.9 billion or $46.25 per share, roughly a $0.75 premium as of this writing. Golden Gate Capital, GIC Special Investments and Insight Venture Partners are also participating in the deal.

BMC specializes in automation and orchestration software, a segment of the enterprise IT software market that is steadily rising to prominence as enterprise data centers increasingly turn to highly virtualized and cloud-enabled infrastructures. In recent years, the company has been beckoning organizations to the cloud by teaming with Cisco to simplify cloud deployments and floating initiatives like boot camps that help businesses launch successful cloud projects.

The company sits on a sprawling IT solutions portfolio, spread across several disciplines, including business service management, IT management, enterprise mobility and data governance and compliance. From data center automation and orchestration to ITIL implementations, the company’s technology addresses a wide array of IT and business application management challenges.

It’s this capability that made BMC such a tempting acquisition target, according to Bain Capital managing director Ian Loring. “BMC is the only enterprise software vendor that can go from mainframe to mobile, with solutions that help IT drive real business innovation and optimize operations management and employee productivity,” stated Loring in press remarks.

The sentiment is echoed by Golden Gate Capital managing director Prescott Ashe. “BMC is an innovative leader in IT operations management and has strong leadership positions in growing segments such as cloud management, service management and workload automation,” he stated.

Like Dell, which is embroiled in its own bid to go private, BMC’s management feels that foregoing Wall Street will help the company better maneuver in a competitive enterprise IT market.

“BMC believes the opportunity to become a private company will provide additional flexibility and position us to invest more strategically to drive powerful innovation and deliver cutting edge customer solutions. We look forward to working closely with all parties to complete this transaction and enter into our next chapter of growth and industry leadership,” said BMC CEO Bob Beauchamp in a statement.

The parties expect the deal to close later this year pending customary approvals. Until then, it is business as usual, said BMC Software operations manager David Fiel, “but stayed tuned for any news on how this may affect partnerships,” he wrote in a brief update on the company’s official blog.

Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at Datamation and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.