Tech spending slowing? No way. Private equity firm Silver Lake just raised $15 BILLION for tech deals. This is one of the biggest EVER dedicated to technology. Of course that's what happens when you have great returns like Silver Lake does. Money flows to brains. Congratulations.
(Bill Taylor, CEO)
"Over the past decade, the investment firm Silver Lake has spearheaded some of the most prominent private equity deals involving technology and media, including the takeovers of Dell Inc. and Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Now the firm is poised to significantly raise its buying power.
Silver Lake plans to announce on Tuesday that it has closed its fifth buyout fund at $15 billion, one of the biggest ever dedicated to technology deals. That exceeds the $12.5 billion fund-raising target that the firm had previously aimed for and brings the firm’s total assets and committed capital to about $39 billion.
The announcement, coming as Silver Lake hosts its investors at its annual meeting in Midtown Manhattan this week, is meant to build off the kind of deals that the firm has struck in recent years. Those deals have revolved around helping portfolio companies get even bigger by buying other competitors, including Dell’s purchase of EMC for $67 billion and WME’s acquisition of fellow talent agency IMG for $2.3 billion.
It is an approach that has garnered good results so far. Silver Lake’s fourth fund, with $10.5 billion under management, currently boasts returns of nearly 31 percent, according to the data provider PitchBook.
“We recognize and take seriously our responsibility to serve as stewards of capital for our limited partners and their beneficiaries in an international investment environment characterized by growing complexity, disruption and change,” the firm’s four managing partners — Mike Bingle, Egon Durban, Kenneth Hao and Greg Mondre — said in a statement.
Much of the private equity world has turned its eyes toward technology deals. Roughly 20 percent of all American private equity deals in the first quarter were in the tech sector, according to PitchBook. That is roughly double the average for the past decade..."
Source: NYTimes