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Byline: J. BONASIA
The March announcement that SunGard Data Systems would be bought by an investment group for $11.3 billion marked the largest private buyout of a high-tech firm in history. The parties expect to complete the sale in the third quarter.
An investment consortium led by Silver Lake Partners agreed to pay $36 per share for SunGard, or 44% more than its close the day before the sale announcement. The other buyers include Bain Capital, Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Texas Pacific.
Based in Wayne, Pa., SunGard makes software used for trading and transaction processing in the financial services industry.
The company also has a unit that provides services for data availability and disaster recovery. Data hosting and protection pose a serious challenge, says Jim Simmons, head of SunGard Availability Services.
"Our clients don't have to duplicate their infrastructure, but they still get to retain control of their software applications and their business," he said.
SunGard considered selling off its availability services unit last year. But the board pulled back from that plan as talks heated up for the sale of the whole company.