Thoma Bravo Might Sell Apryse for Billions
Hey, so get this: it sounds like Thoma Bravo, that big buyout firm, might be selling Apryse. They're looking at a sale that could go for over $3 billion! People who know whatâs up told Reuters about it on Thursday. Looks like other companies are pretty interested in buying this document software company.
Thoma Bravo is working with some investment bankers over at Lazard to figure out the whole sale thing. Yep, some other private equity folks are already sniffing around, the sources said. It's possible that Thoma Bravo might even keep a little piece of Apryse if a deal happens.
But hey, don't get too excited just yet. These same sources warned that nothing is a sure thing. They talked about all this without wanting their names used, because, you know, it's all pretty hush-hush right now. Thoma Bravo didn't want to say anything about it, and Apryse and Lazard didn't even respond to Reuters when they asked.
So, what is Apryse anyway? Well, they're based in Denver, Colorado, and they make technology that helps developers work with documents. Their software lets people create, change, and even turn digital documents into different formats. They can also add these abilities into their own apps. Pretty cool, right?
Some big names use Apryse, like Novartis and Wells Fargo and DocuSign. You can find that on their website. Apparently, Apryse makes over $100 million before all the taxes and stuff, and they're growing more than 20% every year. The word is that if a deal happens, Apryse could be valued at 30 times their earnings or maybe even more, according to the sources.
Just a quick history lesson: Apryse used to be called PDFTron. It started way back in 1998 as a document technology platform. Thoma Bravo bought it in 2021. This guy Hudson Smith, who's in charge of part of Thoma Bravo, led that investment. They changed the name to Apryse two years later.
Itâs interesting because some other investors, Silversmith Capital Partners, and the company's management team still own a part of the business. Since Thoma Bravo took over, Apryse has actually bought nine other companies to make their software better and reach more people around the world. For example, they just announced buying a company in the Netherlands called TallComponents this week. And last year, they bought a company that makes software using artificial intelligence called Lead Technologies. Seems like they've been busy!
