The Carlyle Group has entered into an agreement to acquire the information management business of Symantec (DBA Veritas) for $8 billion. Co-investing in this transaction with The Carlyle Group is GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. Symantec acquired Veritas in December 2004 for $13.5 billion.
Veritas provides a range of products that include backup and recovery software and appliances, storage management, clustering, disaster recovery, archiving and eDiscovery services. The Veritas business generated $2.5 billion in revenue for Symantec in fiscal year 2014.
Upon closing of the transaction – the expected closing date is January 1, 2016 – Carlyle will appoint Bill Coleman as the CEO of Veritas and Bill Krause as its Chairman. Mr. Coleman is currently a partner at Alsop Louie Partners, a venture capital firm. He has been the founder, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of various high profile corporations, most notably BEA Systems. He has been a director at Symantec Corporation since 2003. Mr. Krauss is a Carlyle operating executive specializing in technology and business services investments.
“Veritas is a market innovator with global scale, an iconic brand, and significant growth potential. Bill Coleman is a proven leader whose strategic vision and strong execution skills will leverage Veritas’ new-found position as a private, stand-alone company to grow the firm and provide customers an integrated information management solution,” said Carlyle Managing Director Patrick McCarter. “Our significant experience investing in software businesses, as well as our extensive experience with carve-out transactions, positions us well to support Bill and the existing management team in creating value at Veritas.”
The Carlyle Group invests in buyouts, growth capital, real estate and leveraged finance in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. Carlyle has expertise in various industries, including: aerospace, defense & government services, consumer & retail, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrial, real estate, technology & business services, telecommunications & media and transportation. The firm employs approximately 1,700 people in 35 offices across six continents and is based in Washington, DC (www.carlyle.com).
BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, UBS Investment Bank and Jefferies have agreed to provide debt financing for the transaction. J.P. Morgan Securities is serving as financial advisor to Symantec. BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and UBS Investment Bank are serving as financial advisors to Carlyle and GIC.
© 2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 8-11-15
