Software developer SunGard Data Systems Inc. has filed for an
initial public offering, about a decade after a group of
private-equity firms acquired it in an $11 billion deal that helped
usher in a wave of megabuyouts before the financial crisis.
SunGard's private equity owners—Bain Capital, Blackstone Group
LP, Goldman Sachs's private-equity arm, KKR & Co., Providence
Equity Partners Inc., Silver Lake and TPG—will continue to own a
majority voting power, according to a filing with the Securities
and Exchange Commission.
SunGard said it plans to raise $100 million through the
offering, though that number is a placeholder and is likely to
change. The Wall Street Journal reported in May that the company
was looking to raise around $750 million through the IPO.
SunGard's 2005 takeover by the who's who of private-equity firms
helped kick off the era of big buyouts, in which firms teamed up to
buy giant companies they couldn't afford on their own. The buyout
groups loaded many of the companies with debt to help finance the
deals, some of which then struggled in the subsequent
recession.
Such "club deals" with multiple investors were common in the
buyout boom but have since fallen out of favor amid allegations of
collusion and because of their complexity.
As part of its regulatory filing, SunGard revealed financial
results for recent years.
In 2014, the company posted a loss of $396 million as it took a
$339 million impairment charge on its name. That compared with a
loss of $107 million in 2013.
Revenue, meanwhile, inched up 1.7% in 2014 to $2.81 billion.
Write to Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com
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