British software group Micro Focus to buy Serena Software for $540 mn

British software group Micro Focus International today struck a deal to buy its US rival Serena Software from private equity firm HGGC, for $540 million.

Micro Focus expects the acquisition is expected to close in early May 2016, subject to receipt of competition clearances in the US and Germany.

"Today's announcement marks another significant milestone for Micro Focus, bringing together two highly complementary solution sets that enable customers to build better applications, adapt to changing business conditions more rapidly and maximize the value of existing investments to drive further innovation within their business," said Stephen Murdoch, CEO of Micro Focus.

Founded in 1980, privately-held Serena is a leading provider of enterprise software focused on providing Application Lifecycle Management products for both mainframe and distributed systems.

Serena's customers are typically highly regulated large enterprises, across a variety of sectors including banking, insurance, telco, manufacturing and retail, healthcare and government.

Like Micro Focus, Serena benefits from high levels of recurring maintenance revenues and high EBITDA margins, with consistently strong cash generation and no significant customer concentration.

Serena, based in California, operates also from offices in Hillsboro, Oregon and St. Albans in the UK, as well as 10 other countries.

"This is an exciting announcement that promises to offer substantial value to Serena customers and partners, said Greg Hughes, president and CEO of Serena. "Our complementary strengths in software development and IT Operations will only serve to provide a stronger foundation for the next-generation of applications and services they require to meet ongoing business demands."

Newbury, Berkshire-based Micro Focus is a multinational software and information technology company providing software and consultancy services for clients updating legacy systems to more modern platforms.