Bridgepoint sells US-based Calypso to Thoma Bravo

Greg Gille
23 March 2021

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Bridgepoint and Summit Partners have sold portfolio company Calypso, a San Francisco-headquartered provider of financial services software, to US private equity house Thoma Bravo.

The deal, which is subject to customary regulatory approvals, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed – according to a number of media reports, the deal values the business at $3.75bn.

Calypso was acquired by Bridgepoint in 2016 from Summit Partners, which retained a minority stake; the value of the transaction was undisclosed. Debt for the deal was provided by Goldman Sachs, UniCredit, Crédit Agricole, Mizuho and Bank of Ireland.

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in San Francisco with offices around the world, Calypso is a provider of cloud-based software products for financial markets. It has 35,000 users in more than 60 countries. Its software is designed to improve reliability, adaptability and scalability across several verticals, including capital markets, investment management, central banking, clearing, treasury, liquidity and collateral.

Back in January this year, Unquote sister publication Mergermarket reported that the sale process for Calypso would launch in February, as a raft of private equity and trade buyers lined up for the asset.

Sell-side advisers Evercore and Jefferies were at that time going through "pre-screening" for the asset, with the auction expected to be limited in scope.

The sale attracted several private equity firms including Astorg, Blackstone, Advent, CVC, EQT, Hg, BC Partners, Silver Lake Partners, Hellman & Friedman, TA Associates and KKR, the report added. Interested trade bidders included US financial software vendors FIS and SS&C Technology.

Early valuation estimates were in the region of $2.5bn (25x EBITDA) at the start of the process, although one source who was mentioned in the Mergermarket report did caution that Calypso's valuation would remain a moving target.

Calypso is expected to post EBITDA of more than $125m for 2021.

Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel to Thoma Bravo. Evercore and Jefferies served as financial advisers, and Latham & Watkins served as legal counsel to Calypso, Bridgepoint and Summit Partners.