Compuware Sold To Private Equity Firm, Will Take On Debt But Expected To Stay In Detroit
Detroit-based Compuware announced today that it plans to sell itself to a private-equity firm for $2.5 billion and once again become a private-held company.
The deal is with Thoma Bravo, a firm with offices in Chicago and San Francisco that specializes in buying and operating software and tech companies.
The current management of Compuware will remain in place, and Compuware CEO Bob Paul told the Free Press today that he doesn’t anticipate his company leaving Detroit under the potential new owner — a scenario that was more likely to happen if it was bought by a larger IT company in the same line of business.
“Because we didn’t sell it to a strategic competitor, we are firmly entrenched in Detroit,” Paul said.
Michigan’s largest tech company, Compuware sells business software and IT services and has been under pressure from activist investors to cut costs, reduce staff and shuffle board members amid its long slide in revenue from the company’s heyday in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
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http://www.freep.com/article/20140902/BUSINESS06/309020115/Compuware-sold-to-PE-firm
The revitalization of downtown Detroit would take a huge hit if it lost Compuware...
