What Happens When Thoma Bravo Buys Your Company?

Chicago-based private equity firm Thoma Bravo makes a business out of buying companies — but what does it mean for acquired brands after the deal gets finalized?

Here’s what happens when Thoma Bravo buys your company — including what could potentially be planned for recent acquisition Ping Identity.

Founder and managing partner of Thoma Bravo, Orlando Bravo, launched the firm in 2008 amid the rising action of the Great Recession. In 2019, Bravo became the first billionaire born in Puerto Rico. Thoma Bravo is considered the successor to previously existing firm Golder Thoma & Co.

Other executives likely hold a substantial stake in the firm, which maintains $70 billion in assets under management.

In early August, Thoma Bravo finalized a deal to buy enterprise identity management company Ping Identity for $2.8 billion. The all-cash deal will take Ping from public to private. Thoma Bravo is buying out Ping at a value of $28.50 per share, a 63-percent premium from the stock’s price prior to the announcement.

PING stock, which went public in September 2019, had lost 11.19 percent of its total value by the end of July.

Any time a private equity firm purchases a company in full, changes may occur. This is especially true if the buyout occurs in light of poor stock or company performance. In a time of rising layoffs and cooled jobs market outlooks, employees of recently acquired companies may be wondering what’s next.

Sometimes, CEO and other executive replacements occur. Other times, it’s layoffs. Still other times, the firm who purchased the company may turn around and sell it again.

However, Thoma Bravo is unique due to its intense focus on the software space (and, more specifically, cybersecurity). Thoma Bravo recently purchased SailPoint for a second time for $6.9 billion. Last year, it bought ProofPoint for $12.3 billion.

Interestingly, Thoma Bravo was allegedly thinking about buying Twitter before Elon Musk announced he would buy it for $44 billion (a deal that Musk has subsequently attempted to back out of).

In 2019, when Bravo reached billionaire status, Forbes wrote, “Bravo is eyeing $10 billion-plus deals and expects to begin buying entire divisions from today’s technology giants.” The latest couple of deals haven't exceeded the $10 billion mark, but they’re substantial nonetheless.

It isn't clear yet what Thoma Bravo has planned for Ping Identity and SailPoint. However, one thing is clear: Changes are yet to come. Thoma Bravo will likely spend time directly helping to manage these companies and infiltrate themselves into the business to better understand what direction they want to take it. The firm is considered to be extremely hands-on, including Bravo himself.

Former Profit 21 (now Epicor) CEO Chuck Boyle said about the firm after his own acquisition, “Orlando would help not only at the highest level with strategy but also when we got grunt work done.” Boyle is no longer the CEO.