SAP, Europe’s biggest technology company, has agreed to buy US enterprise software company Qualtrics International for $8 billion in cash.
Germany’s SAP, led by chief executive Bill McDermott, has secured financing of $7.9bn to cover the purchase price and acquisition-related costs, according to a statement on Monday. Qualtrics, which makes software for surveying customers and analysing employee sentiment, expects full year 2018 revenue to exceed $400 million and projects a forward growth rate of greater than 40 per cent.
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Qualtrics had earlier filed for an IPO of $200m. It was valued at $2.5bn in a 2017 private funding round and its customers include Microsoft, JetBlue Airways and General Electric.
The transaction with SAP is expected to close in the first half of 2019, and Qualtrics will operate as an entity within SAP’s cloud business group. Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith will continue to lead the company, which will maintain dual headquarters in Utah and Seattle, Washington.
Qualtrics was advised on the transaction by Qatalyst Partners and Goodwin Procter. JP Morganacted as a financial adviser and Jones Day acted as legal adviser to SAP.
