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Thoma Bravo buys Anaplan for $10.7 billion as private equity stalks SaaS

Private-equity firm Thoma Bravo is buying enterprise planning software company Anapaln in a leveraged buyout.

Anaplan billboard

Anaplan develops planning software for enterprises.

Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters

Private equity firm Thoma Bravo is buying software company Anaplan for $10.7 billion, as private investors continue to look for deals among the enterprise software companies that rode the SaaS investment boom over the last several years.

Anaplan, which develops business planning software, first went public in 2018. The company counts Coca-Cola, Shell and VMware among its clients. Based on the terms of the deal, current CEO Frank Calderoni will keep his position post buyout, and shareholders will receive $66 a share in cash, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The deal is just the latest example of private equity firms buying public enterprise software companies. Just a few months ago , PE firms Vista and Evergreen bought Citrix for $16.5 billion.

Thoma Bravo views the Anaplan purchase as a step toward further acquisitions in the planning space, according to the report.

Aisha Counts

Aisha Counts (@aishacounts) is a reporter at Protocol covering enterprise software. Formerly, she was a management consultant for EY. She's based in Los Angeles and can be reached at acounts@protocol.com.

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