BMC finally completes $6.4bn private equity privatisation

Bain and Golden Gate Capital plan to drive BMC into the cloud and mobile devices

Systems management software vendor BMC Software has finally completed the deal that will take into private ownership.

The $6.4bn deal will see BMC fall into the hands of private equity companies Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital.

"This transaction is good news. Most things should stay the same. There will be continuity in the portfolio of solutions BMC provides and in the people within our company, from account managers and customer service representatives to the senior management team that leads BMC," wrote long-standing CEO Bob Beauchamp in an open letter to customers.

He continued: "The changes we will make are the ones that customers and partners have asked us to make. As a private company, we will be able to move faster as we innovate and deliver the IT management solutions customers have asked for. We will be working hard to simplify our business and become easier to do business with."

According to analysts TechMarketView, while investor pressure forced BMC's management into examining options for the company, its moribund performance in recent years was due to the technology shift to the cloud.

"Although the company derives around 40 per cent of its revenue from mainframe management solutions, which produces steady business and delivers cash gains, demand for its network and server management products has suffered as organisations adopt cloud solutions," said TechMarketView's Angela Eager.

It is also facing competition from more nimble rivals, such as ServiceNow, with its on-demand service management offerings, and analytics provider Splunk, she said. "CA Technologies and Compuware are facing similar problems and the closing of this deal will shift attention to their futures," she added.

BMC's new owners say that they will focus the company's new developments on managing applications running in the cloud and on mobile devices.

"This is the right direction but the change in ownership does not guarantee success, especially as the uncertainty over BMC's future has pushed buyers into the hands of competitors," said Eager.

The market, she added, is already busy enough with new companies that may be better placed. "BMC will need some significant restructuring to make headway in the cloud management market," she concluded.