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KKR acquires software veteran Corel, reportedly for $1B+
Corel Corp., a major provider of productivity and business software, today announced that it has been acquired by private equity firm KKR.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed. KKR bought Corel from Vector Capital, a fellow private equity firm that had owned the software maker for the better part of the last two decades. Vector claims that Corel generated more than $300 million in dividends during the period it was a portfolio company.
Vector’s decision to sell didn’t come as much of a surprise: Rumors about KKR’s interest in Corel have been swirling for months. The May report from PE Hub that originally revealed the negotiations put the value of the deal at north of $1 billion.
Ottawa-based Corel has a family of well-established software products that span several categories and are used by more than 90 million knowledge workers worldwide. One of the company’s most popular offerings is WordPerfect, an Office 365 competitor that traces its origins all way back to 1972. Corel’s portfolio also includes graphic design tools, file compression utilities and ClearSlide, a cloud-based content sharing platform for sales teams.
The company obtained the majority of the products it currently offers through acquisitions. Corel most recently expanded its portfolio in December, when it purchased desktop virtualization provider Parallels for an undisclosed sum. Parallels offers a collection of software tools that enable organizations to make Windows-based virtual workspaces accessible on employees’ Mac devices.
It appears that the acquisitions will continue under KKR’s ownership. In a memo obtained by TechCrunch, Corel Chief Executive Patrick Nichols told employees the private equity firm will provide the company with a new capital to support future deals and expansion efforts.
“KKR looks forward to working together with management to drive continued growth across its existing platforms while leveraging the team’s extensive experience in M&A to deliver a new chapter of innovation and growth on a global scale,” KKR member John Park said in a prepared statement.
Photo: Wikimedia
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