SunGard Data Systems explores sale valued at $10 bn

Owners of SunGard Data Systems Inc are exploring a sale in a deal that could value the financial technology company at around $10 billion, including debt, Reuters yesterday reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

SunGard has hired investment banks to simultaneously explore an outright sale as well as a potential initial public offering, the report said.

A consortium of private equity firms Silver Lake Partners, TPG Capital, Bain Capital, Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, KKR & Co and Providence Equity Partners had acquired SunGard in 2005 for $11.4 billionm aking it one of the longest-held companies in the portfolio of investors.

The consortium decided to explore a sale after it was approached by an unnamed company about a potential takeover, the report added.

Pennsylvania-based SunGard, a 1983, spin-off of computer services division of Sun Oil Co, provides software and processing solutions for financial services, education and the public sector.

With annual revenue of about $2.8 billion, SunGard serves approximately 16,000 customers in more than 100 countries and has more than 13,000 employees.

Last year, it spun off its disaster recovery unit Sungard Availability Services into a separate, independent company.