martinwolf
Transaction Analysis
Salesforce in Advanced Talks to Acquire MuleSoft
Financial Information*
- Implied Enterprise Value ~$5.3B
Transaction Facts
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According to Reuters, Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) is in advanced talks to buy enterprise software company MuleSoft (NYSE: MULE) in what could potentially be Salesforce's biggest-ever deal. Both companies declined to comment on the negotiations.
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Hitting a new 52-week high, shares of MuleSoft jumped more than 20 percent to $40 after the report was released, giving the company a market value of ~$5.3B, while Salesforce shares rose 0.3 percent to $125.31.
Heightening Competition for Lucrative Government Deals
- Rare Sight: As part of the infamous unicorn club (privately held companies worth at least $1B), MuleSoft went public last March, pricing its IPO at $17 a share -- or an initial valuation of $2.9B. The high valuation stood out in a staggering IPO environment that has experienced heavy slowdowns since the latter half of 2015.
- Tech Advantage: Both companies have seen substantial growth in the past year. MuleSoft and Salesforce shares rose 67 percent and 52 percent, respectively, in the past 12 months. To put this into perspective, the S&P 500 is up 14 percent.
- Grand Scale: Salesforce's strategic acquisitions have been ramping up in 2018. The company acquired Attic Labs and CloudCraze earlier this year after taking a buying hiatus in 2017. Meanwhile, in 2016, the company spent over $5B acquiring more than 12 companies.
- Sweet Target: Salesforce's interest in MuleSoft has been apparent from the beginning. Salesforce Ventures, the company's corporate investment arm, led a $128M funding round in Mulesoft three years ago. If acquired, MuleSoft could help Salesforce gain business from clients who are not ready to completely transition to the cloud.
For more information about this transaction,
click here to read a CNBC report.
*Financial Information from Reuters and FactSet.
martinwolf was
not the advisor in this transaction.
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Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona with offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York, martinwolf is a leading M&A Advisory focused on middle market companies in the IT Services, IT Supply Chain, IT-Enabled Business Process Outsourcing and Software as a Service (SaaS) space. Since 1997, our team has completed more than 155 transactions in over 20 countries and sold seven divisions of Fortune 500 companies. martinwolf is a member of FINRA and SIPC. For more information, visit www.martinwolf.com. To learn more about martinwolf, contact Bless Bai at bbai@martinwolf.com. © martinwolf 2018 |
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