Why TPG And TA Associates Are Buying Planview From Thoma Bravo For $1.6 Billion

By Dan Anderson • Nov 12, 2020
  • TPG Capital and TA Associates recently announced a deal to buy Planview from Thoma Bravo for $1.6 billion. These are the details.

Global alternative asset firm TPG Capital and leading global growth private equity firm TA Associates recently announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to buy Planview, a global leader in Portfolio Management and Work Management for a purchase price of $1.6 billion. Planview’s existing majority shareholder Thoma Bravo is going to retain a minority interest in the company.

Planview has over 30 years of experience partnering with organizations to help them connect strategy to delivery. And the company provides a comprehensive platform that spans the spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions that enable organizations to transform and accelerate on-strategy delivery at enterprise scale. With the platform, organizations can build an innovation culture, realize agile at scale, make the project to product shift, and adapt to the changing world of work.

UBS Investment Bank and Deutsche Bank Securities provided committed debt financing and alongside Barclays and Jefferies LLC acted as financial advisors to TPG Capital and TA Associates. And Ropes & Gray served as legal counsel to TPG Capital, and Goodwin Procter served as legal counsel to TA Associates. JP Morgan acted as financial advisor to Planview and Thoma Bravo, and Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel.

KEY QUOTES:

“We’ve spent more than three decades delivering innovation, driving the market forward, and reinventing ourselves. I truly believe that the best is yet to come for our customers and for Planview. We’re grateful for Thoma Bravo’s partnership over the last four years, and look forward to this next chapter as we accelerate our vision and continue to be a journey partner for our customers as they transform strategy to delivery.”

— Greg Gilmore, CEO of Planview

“The nature of work has been changing over the last several years as technology has enabled employees to be productive in ways that weren’t previously possible. This shift has only accelerated during the pandemic, and what is emerging is a new and enduring model of work that’s increasingly flexible, fragmented, and distributed. As more of our work lives transition to digital, organizations will require tools that provide executives visibility and connectivity across the entire enterprise. With Planview, we see an opportunity to partner with an innovative leader at the forefront of this new way of working. We look forward to supporting the company in its next chapter of growth.”

— Nehal Raj, Partner at TPG Capital

“We have followed Planview for over a decade and have been impressed by the company’s strong growth under Greg Gilmore’s leadership. We believe that Planview’s comprehensive portfolio and work management solutions provide continued market opportunities as they are uniquely positioned to help organizations effectively navigate and accelerate strategy to delivery. We look forward to partnering with the Planview management team during the company’s next growth phase, and are pleased to be investing alongside TPG and Thoma Bravo.”

— Ashu Agrawal, a Managing Director at TA Associates

“Planview is another example of Thoma Bravo working with existing management to implement our proprietary, operational approach to value creation while complementing the organic growth of the business with strategic and creative M&A. We’re proud of being a part of Planview’s transformation from an IT PPM provider to a broader Portfolio and Work platform with unique, dual leadership across Agile and traditional Project domains, and we believe Planview is well positioned to continue its growth amidst a changing world of work. We look forward to continuing to invest in a company with strong market leadership, a highly differentiated platform, and a clear ability to execute.”

— Holden Spaht, a Managing Partner at Thoma Bravo