Vista Equity Buys Sage U.S. Software Healthcare for $320 Million in Cash
Vista Equity Partners, a private- equity firm focused on enterprise software and technology businesses, agreed to buy Sage Group Plc (SGE)’s U.S. healthcare division.
The sale of Sage Software Healthcare, which offers practice management and electronic health-record offerings, is expected to be completed in November, the U.K. company said in a statement. Sage will make a loss of up to 70 million pounds ($108.4 million) through the sale and redistribute cash proceeds of $320 million to shareholders by buying back shares.
Vista Equity, based in San Francisco, has about $5 billion invested in technology companies including library software maker SirsiDynix. The company aims to generate “exceptional returns” and only makes a limited number of investments per year, according to Vista Equity’s Website. Sage said the disposal will help the company to focus on its other U.S. activities.
“The sale of Sage Healthcare allows management in the North American region to focus on the considerable opportunities that exist within our core U.S. customer base,” Guy Berruyer, chief executive officer of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England-based Sage, said in the statement.
Sage’s Healthcare unit had sales of 72 million pounds in the six months through March 2011.
Sage dropped 2.5 percent to 258.6 pence in London trading as of 9:05 a.m.
To contact the reporter on this story: Katie Linsell in London at Klinsell@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net
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