Thoma Bravo buying Ping Identity for $2.8 billion
- Dan Primack, author of Axios Pro Rata
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
Thoma Bravo on Wednesday agreed to buy Ping Identity (NYSE: PING), a Denver-based authentication software company, for around $2.8 billion. Sellers would include Vista Equity Partners, which took Ping public in 2019 and currently holds just under a 10% stake.
Why it martters: Expect this to be just the tip of the spear when it comes to private equity carousel deals, in which PE-backed companies that IPO'd during the bull run are returned to private hands.
- It also suggests that Thoma Bravo isn't suffering too much blowback from repricing its Anaplan buyout.
Details: Thoma Bravo will pay $28.50 per share, a 63% premium over yesterday's closing price but still less than where Ping traded as recently as April 14.
- Ping also reported Q2 earnings this morning, with revenue coming in just below analyst expectations.
The bottom line: "Identity management remains a very hot area in the world of enterprise IT, given the increasing number of cyber attacks and breaches that started by hackers maliciously entering networks through credential stuffing and other tactics that leverage weaknesses in login procedures." — Ingrid Lunden, TechCrunch