LANDesk spun off by Emerson to private equity firm
LANDesk has been sold to private equity investment firm Thoma Bravo in a move that will see the company shift from being a part of the Emerson group to being a fully independent business, the companies said in a joint statement on Monday.
LANDesk, which provides a range of enterprise management software packages, was once a division of Intel and is currently owned by Emerson Electric. When the new deal is completed by the end of September, Steve Daly, the current executive vice president and general manager of LANDesk, will become chief executive of the stand-alone company.
Thoma Bravo hopes to "accelerate LANDesk's revenue growth and solidify its leadership position in delivering an integrated portfolio for simplifying the management of desktops, servers and mobile devices", the private equity firm said in the statement.
The companies involved did not reveal the terms of the deal but, in 2006, LANDesk had been bought by remote infrastructure software maker Avocent for $416m (£269m). Avocent was later snapped up by Emerson but, according to a statement issued by Emerson at the time, LANDesk did not logically fit with its core business and was therefore put up for sale.
"Emerson decided that the LANDesk business unit of Avocent is not a strategic fit for Emerson and it is expected to be sold within six months. Therefore, the results of LANDesk are being reported as discontinued operations," Emerson said in its first-quarter earnings report in February.
"LANDesk is uniquely positioned in the software industry, and Thoma Bravo is confident we can further accelerate the company's growth through our proven buy and build investment strategy," Robert Sayle, a vice president at Thoma Bravo, said in the statement. "We look forward to implementing operational best practices and exploring strategic investment opportunities with LANDesk."
Thoma Bravo gave no indication of potential staff changes for LANDesk's approximately 750 worldwide employees.