Published: August 05, 2011
Education Institutions Worldwide to Benefit From Strategic Combination of Datatel and SunGard Higher Education
FAIRFAX, Va. & MALVERN, Pa. & WAYNE, Pa. - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Datatel and SunGard Higher Education announced today that they have
signed definitive agreements to combine businesses and operate as one
company focused exclusively on serving education institutions. This
strategic combination brings together two education industry specialists
into one company with increased breadth and scale to meet the needs of
institutions worldwide. Over 3,000 employees will be dedicated
exclusively to delivering solutions to education institutions in 40
countries.
As a result of the combination, current and future customers will
benefit from a broader portfolio of products and services as well as
collaboration, creativity and sharing of best practices across an
expanded global community of education professionals. Importantly, the
combined company plans to continue investing significantly in the proven
solutions customers rely on and to accelerate research and development
to build new solutions to solve the evolving challenges institutions
face.
"Combining the resources and talent of these two quality companies will
enable us to be more responsive to the changing environment and
challenges facing education," said Datatel chief executive officer John
Speer. "Together we will be able to better serve the global education
community."
"Datatel and SunGard Higher Education are a strong strategic fit and
share common values," said Ron Lang, chief executive officer of SunGard
Higher Education. "Both companies have demonstrated a passion for
serving the education community and have a long history of delivering
innovative, reliable solutions. We intend to deepen the long-term,
strategic relationships we have with our customers."
Specifically, this strategic combination will provide customers:
Continued investments in current solutions: The combined company
plans to support the solutions of both companies going forward and to
continue to invest significantly to enhance those solutions.
A broader portfolio of solutions: After the transaction closes,
customers will enjoy powerful new capabilities from the combined
portfolio of products and services offered by Datatel and SunGard Higher
Education.
Accelerated innovation: The combined company plans to pool
resources and talent to accelerate research and development with
targeted investments focused on major challenges in the education
community. Centralized development of targeted common functionality will
enable resources to focus on building new solutions while using the best
practices of each company to better serve the needs of customers and
partners.
An expanded knowledge-sharing community: Institutions will
experience increased collaboration, creativity and knowledge-sharing
across an expanded global customer community of over 2,300 colleges,
universities, foundations and state systems. The combined company will
continue to invest in community and open source initiatives, online
communities, and regional and national user group forums to foster
collaboration and sharing of best practices. This will enable the
combined company to leverage knowledge and feedback from a broader group
of customers to build new and innovative education solutions.
The combined company will be led by an experienced management team with
deep knowledge of the needs of the global education community. Datatel's
current chief executive officer, John Speer, will be the chief executive
officer of the combined business. Ron Lang, the current chief executive
officer of SunGard Higher Education, will continue to play an active
role in the combined business as vice chairman of the board of directors.
Affiliates of private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC will acquire
the SunGard Higher Education businesses from SunGard Data Systems Inc.
for an aggregate cash purchase price of $1.775 billion and combine the
acquired businesses under a new holding company with Datatel, an
existing Hellman & Friedman portfolio company. The combined company will
operate under a new name that will be announced by the parties at the
closing of the transactions. The transactions are subject to customary
closing conditions, including applicable regulatory clearances, but are
not subject to a financing condition or to receipt of any stockholder
approvals.
"Combining Datatel and SunGard Higher Education aligns two of the most
respected, customer-centric firms in the higher education market," said
Anupam Mishra, Managing Director at Hellman & Friedman. "We are proud to
support the combined company in its mission to partner with the world's
finest educational institutions in using technology to achieve their
respective goals."
About Datatel, Inc.
Datatel is a provider of innovative technology products, services, and
insight to higher education. Colleges, universities, and technical
schools across North America partner with Datatel to build Strategic
Academic Enterprises dedicated to achieving student success. The company
has focused on higher education since 1979. For more information, visit www.datatel.com.
About SunGard Higher Education
SunGard Higher Education serves colleges, universities and foundations
in 40 countries worldwide. Through its Open Digital Campus strategy,
SunGard collaborates with the higher education community and provides
software and services to help institutions find better ways to teach,
learn, manage and connect. To learn more, please visit www.sungardhe.com.
About Hellman & Friedman LLC
Hellman & Friedman LLC is a leading private equity investment firm with
offices in San Francisco, New York and London. Since its founding in
1984, Hellman & Friedman has raised and, through its affiliated funds,
managed over $25 billion of committed capital. The Firm focuses on
investing in superior business franchises and serving as a value-added
partner to management in select industries including internet & digital
media, software, business & marketing services, financial services,
insurance, media, healthcare and energy & industrials. Representative
investments in the software sector include Activant Solutions, Inc.,
Datatel Inc., Intergraph Corporation, Iris Software Group Limited,
Kronos Incorporated, SSP Holdings plc and Vertafore Corporation. For
more information on Hellman & Friedman, visit www.hf.com.
About SunGard
SunGard is one of the world's leading software and technology services
companies. SunGard has more than 20,000 employees and serves over 25,000
customers in more than 70 countries. SunGard provides software and
processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the
public sector. SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed
IT services, information availability consulting services and business
continuity management software. With annual revenue about $5 billion,
SunGard is ranked 434 on the Fortune 500 and is the largest privately
held business software and IT services company. Look for us wherever the
mission is critical. For more information, please visit www.sungard.com.
Trademark information: SunGard, the SunGard logo and Open Digital Campus
are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunGard Data Systems Inc. or
its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. Datatel and the
Datatel logo are registered trademarks of Datatel, Inc. All other trade
names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
holders.
SunGard's "Safe Harbor" Statement under Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995
Statements in this release other than historical facts constitute
forward-looking statements. You can identify forward-looking statements
because they contain words such as "believes," "expects," "may," "will,"
"would," "should," "seeks," "approximately," "intends," "plans,"
"estimates," or "anticipates" or similar expressions which concern our
strategy, plans or intentions. All statements we make relating to
estimated and projected earnings, margins, costs, expenditures, cash
flows, growth rates and financial results are forward-looking
statements. In addition, we, through our senior management, from time to
time make forward-looking public statements concerning our expected
future operations and performance and other developments. All of these
forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that
may change at any time, and, therefore, our actual results may differ
materially from those we expected. We may not be able to complete the
proposed transaction on the terms summarized above or other acceptable
terms, or at all, due to a number of factors, including the failure to
obtain regulatory approvals. The factors that may affect our business or
future financial results are discussed in our filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which may be obtained from
us without charge. We assume no obligation to update any written or oral
forward-looking statement made by us or on our behalf as a result of new
information, future events or other factors except as otherwise required
by applicable law.
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SunGard Higher Education
Media Contact
Laura Kvinge,
801-257-4158
laura.kvinge@sungardhe.com
or
SunGard
Data Systems
Media Contact
Brian Robins, 646-445-8347
brian.robins@sungard.com
or
Financial
Contact
Henry Miller, 484-582-5445
henry.miller@sungard.com
or
Datatel
Media
Contact
Robert Martin, 703-261-2420
rsm@datatel.com
or
Hellman
& Friedman
Media Contacts
Abernathy MacGregor Group
Mary
Beth Grover/Kelly Smith
212-371-5999
mbg@abmac.com;
kas@abmac.com
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