Thoma Cressey
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Thoma Bravo, LP, is an American
private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...
and
growth capital Growth capital (also called expansion capital and growth equity) is a type of private equity investment, usually a minority investment, in relatively mature companies that are looking for capital to expand or restructure operations, enter new mark ...
firm with offices in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
,
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
and
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
. It is known for being particularly active in acquiring software companies and has over $114 billion in assets under management. It is the successor to the firm Golder Thoma & Co., which was established in 1980 by Stanley Golder and Carl Thoma. Thoma Bravo is led by managing partners Seth Boro,
Orlando Bravo Orlando Bravo (born 1970) is a Puerto Rican billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder and managing partner of Thoma Bravo, a private equity investment firm that specializes in software and technology-enabled services sectors. The 2019 ''Forbe ...
, Scott Crabill, Lee Mitchell, Holden Spaht and Carl Thoma. In 2021 it was the highest growing major buyout firm in the world. In February 2019, the French business school
HEC Paris HEC Paris (french: École des hautes études commerciales de Paris) is a business school, and one of the most prestigious and selective grandes écoles, located in Jouy-en-Josas, France. HEC offers Master in Management, MSc International Fi ...
, in conjunction with Dow Jones, named Thoma Bravo, the best-performing buyout investor after studying 898 funds raised between 2005 and 2014. The company focuses on the application, infrastructure and cybersecurity software and technology-enabled business service sectors, and uses a "consolidation" or "buy and build" investment strategy.


Investments

Called by the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'', "one of the most active acquirers of software companies in the world", it has done over 300 software deals since 2003 and oversees a portfolio of over 40 software companies. According to public data analyzed by ''Forbes'', its funds returned 30% net annually. Since 2015, Thoma Bravo has sold or listed 25 investments worth $20 billion, four times their cost.


Software investments

Thoma Cressey Equity Partners began investing in the enterprise software sector in 2002 with the acquisition of Prophet21, a provider of software for durable goods distributors. In 2014, the company acquired
Riverbed Technology Riverbed Technology is an American information technology company. Its products consist of software and hardware focused on Unified Observability, Network Visibility, End User Experience Management, network performance monitoring, application pe ...
for $3.6 billion. Riverbed later filed for
Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...
in December 2021. After the purchase of
edtech Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. When referred to with its abbreviation, edtech, it often refer ...
company
Instructure Instructure, Inc. is an educational technology company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It is the developer and publisher of Canvas, a web-based learning management system (LMS), and MasteryConnect, an assessment management system. ...
in 2020, the purchase was accused of being "rushed" and "riddled by conflicts of interest" by a large shareholder at the time. In March 2022, Thoma Bravo acquired the enterprise
cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may co ...
software company, Anaplan for $10.7 billion (€9.6bn). The acquisition completed in June 2022 following Thoma Bravo cutting the takeover offer down to $10.4 billion after alleging that the company had violated the acquisition terms by overpaying new hires. In August 2022, the company agreed to buy Nearmap, its first Australian acquisition, for (US$730 million). In December 2022, the company outbid
Vista Equity Partners Vista Equity Partners is an American investment firm focused on financing and forwarding software, data, and technology-enabled startup businesses. Vista has invested in hundreds of companies, including Misys, Ping Identity, and Marketo. The ...
to announce its acquisition of Coupa Software for $6.15 billion in cash, and a total enterprise value of $8 billion.


Security investments

In March 2020, Thoma Bravo completed its $3.9 billion acquisition of Sophos. In 2022, Thoma Bravo made a series of security related investments. In April, it announced acquisition of identity security company, SailPoint for $6.9 billion with financing from private lenders. SailPoint specializes in providing secure access to remote work software and cloud infrastructure protection. In August, it agreed to buy
Ping Identity Ping Identity Corporation is an American software company established in 2002 by Andre Durand and Bryan Field-Elliot. It is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, United States with development offices in Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia, Tel Av ...
for $2.8 billion in an all-cash transaction. In October, it agreed to buy ForgeRock for $2.3 billion in an all-cash deal. In April 2022, Thoma Bravo divested of its companies, the cloud-first security solutions provider,
Barracuda Networks Barracuda Networks, Inc. is a company providing security, networking and storage products based on network appliances and cloud services. The company's security products include products for protection against email, web surfing, web hackers an ...
to KKR for an undisclosed sum.


Fintech investments

In May 2022, Thoma Bravo acquired Bottomline Technologies for $2.6 billion in an all-cash transaction.


History

In 1980 Stanley Golder and Carl Thoma established Golder Thoma & Co, a company that has been credited as creating the “consolidation” or “buy and build” investment strategy. In 1984, Bryan Cressey was recruited to join the firm from
First Chicago First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
, and the firm's name was changed to Golder Thoma Cressey. With the promotion of
Bruce Rauner Bruce Vincent Rauner (; born February 18, 1956) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician who served as the 42nd governor of Illinois from 2015 to 2019. Prior to his election, he was the chairman of R8 Capital Partners and chai ...
to partner, it became Golder, Thoma, Cressey, Rauner, Inc. (GTCR). In 1998, the firm split into two firms: GTCR Golder Rauner, for raising larger funds and pursuing larger investments; and Thoma Cressey Equity Partners, which continued the firm's longstanding focus on the "middle market". In 2008, Thoma Cressey Bravo became Thoma Bravo after Bryan Cressey left the company to establish a separate healthcare services fund, Cressey & Co. The firm closed its 12th fund in September 2016, with $7.6 billion. Thoma Bravo raised $12.6 billion for its 13th fund, which was announced in January 2019. In October 2019, Thoma Bravo’s co-founder and managing partner,
Orlando Bravo Orlando Bravo (born 1970) is a Puerto Rican billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder and managing partner of Thoma Bravo, a private equity investment firm that specializes in software and technology-enabled services sectors. The 2019 ''Forbe ...
, was named the first Puerto Rican-born billionaire as he debuted at 287th place on the Forbes 400 ranking of the wealthiest Americans. The company moved its operations to Miami, Florida at the end of 2020. In December 2021, it was reported that Thoma Bravo had taken more multi-billion dollar public companies private in the past year than any other buyout firm. At the same time, company executives sought to raise $35 billion for more acquisitions.


See also

* Carl and Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation


References


External links

* {{authority control Financial services companies established in 2008 Private equity firms of the United States American companies established in 2008 Companies based in Chicago