SunGard
Encyclopedia
SunGard is a multinational company based in Wayne, Pennsylvania
, which provides software and services to education, financial services
, and public sector organizations. It was formed in 1983, as a spin-off of the computer services division of Sun Oil Company
, during a period of low crude oil
prices. The company has more than 25,000 customers in more than 70 countries. The name of the company originally was an initialism which stood for Sun Guaranteed Access to Recovered Data, a reference to the disaster recovery
business it helped pioneer. SunGard is ranked at 434th in the U.S.
Fortune 500
list in the year 2011. SunGard is one of the title sponsors of the pro cycling team until the end of 2011.
, MINT, TRAX, CARNOT AG, Front Arena, Martini, Monis, APT, Dyatron, Reech, VPM, Phase 3 Systems, Infinity, Decalog, Microhedge, Reconciliation, Automated securities clearance india, Opus Renaissance Software Inc., and National Computer Systems Financial Systems Division on the (primarily financial) software and processing side. SunGard has completed more than 150 acquisitions over the past 20 years.
The 4 large and most prominent acquisitions were:
In August 2011 Datatel
and SunGard's Higher Education group announced the definitive agreement to combine businesses and operate as one company. Datatel’s current chief executive officer, John Speer, will be the chief executive officer of the combined business. Ron Lang, the CEO of SunGard Higher Education, will continue to play an active role in the combined business as vice chairman of the board of directors.
Affiliates of private equity firm Hellman & Friedman
LLC will acquire the SunGard Higher Education businesses from SunGard Data Systems Inc. for an aggregate cash purchase price of USD 1.775 billion and combine the acquired businesses. The combined company will operate under a new name that will be announced by the parties at the closing of the transactions.
SunGard's total debt of USD 8.08 billion will be alleviated by selling the Higher Education business line, however a projected annual revenue shortage of USD 580 million can be assumed, resulting in a total revenue projection for the fiscal 2011 of USD 4.7 billion insinuating a negative revenue trend.
(ticker symbol
SDS) on August 11, 2005 the company was acquired by a consortium of seven private equity
investment firms in a transaction valued at $11.3 billion. The partners in the acquisition were Silver Lake Partners
, Bain Capital
, Blackstone Group
, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners
, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
, Providence Equity Partners
, and Texas Pacific Group
.
Wayne, Pennsylvania
Wayne is an unincorporated community located on the Main Line, centered in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. While the center of Wayne is in Radnor Township, Wayne extends into both Tredyffrin Township in Chester County and Upper Merion Township in Montgomery County...
, which provides software and services to education, financial services
Financial services
Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry. The finance industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are credit unions, banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies,...
, and public sector organizations. It was formed in 1983, as a spin-off of the computer services division of Sun Oil Company
Sunoco
Sunoco Inc. is an American petroleum and petrochemical manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, formerly known as Sun Company Inc. and Sun Oil Co. ....
, during a period of low crude oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
prices. The company has more than 25,000 customers in more than 70 countries. The name of the company originally was an initialism which stood for Sun Guaranteed Access to Recovered Data, a reference to the disaster recovery
Disaster recovery
Disaster recovery is the process, policies and procedures related to preparing for recovery or continuation of technology infrastructure critical to an organization after a natural or human-induced disaster. Disaster recovery is a subset of business continuity...
business it helped pioneer. SunGard is ranked at 434th in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Fortune 500
Fortune 500
The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...
list in the year 2011. SunGard is one of the title sponsors of the pro cycling team until the end of 2011.
Business
SunGard provides software and processing for financial services, higher education and the public sector. It also provides continuity-assurance and production data center hosting services to enterprises of all types. SunGard has offices in many parts of the world outside of the United States including Paris, Tunis, Stockholm and the United Kingdom.Acquisitions
SunGard has historically grown by acquisition. Past mergers include Performance Pathways, Vericenter, InFlow, Strohl Systems, Comdisco Continuity Services, and Guardian iT PLC on the availability side, Systems & Computer Technology Corp. (SCT) on the higher education side, and GL TradeGL Trade
GL Trade was a French provider of financial order management and trading systems that covered front office, middle office and back office used by international financial institutions...
, MINT, TRAX, CARNOT AG, Front Arena, Martini, Monis, APT, Dyatron, Reech, VPM, Phase 3 Systems, Infinity, Decalog, Microhedge, Reconciliation, Automated securities clearance india, Opus Renaissance Software Inc., and National Computer Systems Financial Systems Division on the (primarily financial) software and processing side. SunGard has completed more than 150 acquisitions over the past 20 years.
The 4 large and most prominent acquisitions were:
- In 1997, SunGard Data Systems acquired Infinity Financial Technology, a designer of trading and risk-management software, for about USD 390 million, where USD 313 million were paid in stock and USD 77 million went in cash. Infinity Financial Technology reported revenues of about USD 60 million in the fiscal year 1996.
- in 1999, SunGard acquired IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
's Oshap Technologies (Nasdaq:OSHSF) for $210m in stock, giving SunGard a foothold in both the middlewareMiddlewareMiddleware is computer software that connects software components or people and their applications. The software consists of a set of services that allows multiple processes running on one or more machines to interact...
(via Oshap's subsidiary Mint Communications) and front-office portfolio management systems markets (via Oshap's subsidiary Decalog).
- In 2001, SunGard acquired Comdisco Inc.’s computer disaster-recovery business after a U.S. appeals court rebuffed a request by the Justice Department to halt the $825 million transaction.
- In 2008, SunGard acquired GL TradeGL TradeGL Trade was a French provider of financial order management and trading systems that covered front office, middle office and back office used by international financial institutions...
, a Paris-based financial services firm for nearly USD 1 Billion; in a first tranche a 65% stake in GL Trade was acquired for USD 625 Million, including effect of outstanding stock options. The deal encompasses the NYSE Euronext's 40% stake in GL Trade, however 25,4% were in the hand of the founders and 36,6% of the shares were free float. The deal was considered to be financially hazardous, given the mere fact that GL Trade reported revenues of EUR 203 million and a EBITDA of EUR 26 million (fiscal year 2007).
In August 2011 Datatel
Datatel
Datatel, Inc. is a private company that provides fully integrated software and professional services to build Enterprise Education Platforms for higher education. Founded in 1968 by Tom Davidson. It was originally a data processing service company, but has focused on higher education since 1979...
and SunGard's Higher Education group announced the definitive agreement to combine businesses and operate as one company. Datatel’s current chief executive officer, John Speer, will be the chief executive officer of the combined business. Ron Lang, the CEO of SunGard Higher Education, will continue to play an active role in the combined business as vice chairman of the board of directors.
Affiliates of private equity firm Hellman & Friedman
Hellman & Friedman
Hellman & Friedman is a private equity firm, founded in 1984 by Warren Hellman and Tully Friedman, that makes investments primarily through leveraged buyouts and minority growth capital investments....
LLC will acquire the SunGard Higher Education businesses from SunGard Data Systems Inc. for an aggregate cash purchase price of USD 1.775 billion and combine the acquired businesses. The combined company will operate under a new name that will be announced by the parties at the closing of the transactions.
SunGard's total debt of USD 8.08 billion will be alleviated by selling the Higher Education business line, however a projected annual revenue shortage of USD 580 million can be assumed, resulting in a total revenue projection for the fiscal 2011 of USD 4.7 billion insinuating a negative revenue trend.
Buyout
Formerly listed on the NYSENew York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
(ticker symbol
Ticker symbol
A stock symbol or ticker symbol is a short abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. A stock symbol may consist of letters, numbers or a combination of both. "Ticker symbol" refers to the symbols that were printed on the ticker...
SDS) on August 11, 2005 the company was acquired by a consortium of seven private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
investment firms in a transaction valued at $11.3 billion. The partners in the acquisition were Silver Lake Partners
Silver Lake Partners
Silver Lake is a US-based private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in technology, technology-enabled and related industries...
, Bain Capital
Bain Capital
Bain Capital LLC is a Boston-based private equity firm founded in 1984 by partners from the consulting firm Bain & Company. Originally conceived as an early-stage, growth-oriented investment fund, Bain Capital today manages approximately $65 billion in assets, and its strategies include private...
, Blackstone Group
Blackstone Group
The Blackstone Group L.P. is an American-based alternative asset management and financial services company that specializes in private equity, real estate, and credit and marketable alternative investment strategies, as well as financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions ,...
, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners
Goldman Sachs Capital Partners
Goldman Sachs Capital Partners is the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs, focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments globally....
, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
KKR & Co. L.P. is an American-based global private equity firm, specializing in leveraged buyouts, based in New York. The firm sponsors and manages private equity investment funds. Since its inception, the firm has completed over $400 billion of private equity transactions and was a pioneer in...
, Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners is a global private equity investment firm focused on media, entertainment, communications and information investments...
, and Texas Pacific Group
Texas Pacific Group
TPG Capital is one of the largest private equity investment firms globally, focused on leveraged buyout, growth capital and leveraged recapitalization investments in distressed companies and turnaround situations. TPG also manages investment funds specializing in growth capital, venture capital,...
.