PE firms Bain Capital, Golden Gate lead race to buy BMC Software: report

A private equity consortium comprising of Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital is leading the race to buy BMC Software Inc for more than $6.5 billion, Reuters yesterday reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.

Bain and Golden Gate have tabled a binding bid for BMC Software that is said to have topped an offer from a rival consortium comprising of KKR & Co, TPG Capital and Thoma Bravo, the report said.

The news agency could not find out the exact bids, but one of the sources said the offers came in a range of $45 to $50 per share, valuing the company at more than $6.5 billion.

The potential deal for the Texas-based software company would be one of the largest leveraged buyouts so far this year, after the Dell deal.

It is not clear if BMC Software is looking to sell itself since bid negotiations are private, but the company is likely to make an announcement on 7 May when it will report its earnings.

BMC Software was first put into play by activist hedge fund Elliott Associates, which saw its $2.3-billion bid being rejected last year by the management of BMC Software. Since then it has amassed a 9.6-per cent stake and has become the company's largest shareholder.

Founded in 1980 by Scott Boulette, John Moores and Dan Cloer, BMC Software specialises in Business Service Management software.

It develops, markets and sells software used for multiple functions, including IT service management, data centre automation, performance management and cloud computing management.

It has over 6,000 employees and posted 2012 turnover of $2.2 billion, making it the 20th largest software company in the US.

Its international headquarters are located in Amsterdam and Singapore, while it has offices in Houston, Austin, San Jose, Boston, Tampa, Amsterdam, Singapore, Tel Aviv, Israel, and India.