PE Buys the Dip

Private equity firms have always enjoyed a juicy enterprise software deal, but with the recent tumble in the markets some might have expected their appetite to wane... It has not. Unfazed by market shakiness, big buyers are out in force. Orlando Bravo, founder of Thoma Bravo, bought business planning software maker Anaplan for $10.7B over the weekend and continues the trend set by Vista Equity Partner's purchase of Citrix Systems for $16.5B back in January.

Bravo is paying $66 a share for Anaplan which is near the high point of the past 18 months. This steady conviction from PE couldn't be further from what can only be described as a generally nervous market sentiment. That same nervous energy recently sent Anaplan stock down 21% when it was announced that they would only grow 25% YoY rather than the planned 30% (still pretty freaking solid for a +$10B company if you ask me).

Does the "smart" money know something the rest of us don't? Is this a classic case of paper hands by all of us would be traders? Either way, these acquisitions give me hope for the markets and seem to point towards the bottom not completely falling out in the short-term (knock on wood).

Click here to check out the full article from Martin Peers at The Information.