SunGard sold in 'record' deal

US software company Sungard Data has been bought by a consortium of investment funds for $11.3bn (£6bn).

The deal is the largest private buyout of a technology firm, and also believed to be the second-largest buyout of any type of company in business history.

The broad-based consortium includes Silver Lake Partners, Bain Capital, Blackstone Group and Texas Pacific.

Sungard provides computer services, particularly to finance firms, and has annual sales of $3bn.

The Pennsylvania-based company has more than 20,000 customers in about 50 countries.

"This transaction offers great value to our stockholders and represents an endorsement of our business model," said Sungard president Cristobal Conde.

"Our customers and employees should know that it is business as usual, now and following the completion of the transaction."

Mr Conde added that Sungard will retain its senior management team and current headquarters.

The consortium is paying $36 a share for Sungard. Its other members include Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and Providence Equity.

The deal is being financed through a combination of equity contributed by each partner, and additional loans provided by JP Morgan, Citigroup Global Markets, Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.

While the Sungard board has recommended acceptance of the offer, it must still be approved by stockholders and regulators.

The sale is expected to be completed by the third quarter of this year.

"Our consortium partners are extremely pleased with this investment," said Silver Lake Partners co-founder Glenn Hutchins.

The annoucements made no reference to the future plans for the group, although some industry analysts are reported as believing that this record deal increases the chance of a further sell off of the Availability Services Disvision to offset increased costs.

At this time no spokesman was available for comment from the European operations of SunGard, but it appears as though mergers and acquisition are to remain a hot topic for some time to come.

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