Westlake-based Solera being bought for $6.5 billion including debt

Vista Equity will be acquiring Solera Holdings Inc. for .5 billion, including debt, Reuters reported.

Due to the fact that the deal is also including the company’s debt and outstanding shares the purchase of Solera will run Vista close to $6.5 billion.

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“We are extremely excited about working with Vista to further strengthen Solera’s global leadership in risk and asset management technologies”, said Solera founder and CEO Tony Aquila in the press statement. Other key investors in the deal include an affiliate of Koch Equity Development LLC, the investment and acquisition subsidiary of Koch Industries, and an affiliate of Goldman Sachs, the company said.

On August . 20, Solera said it was exploring a “variety of strategic alternatives”.

At the same time, Solera could make an interesting buyout target for private equity firms precisely because it could utilize and rely on these acquisitions over the next couple of years, sources suggested, adding that despite its aggressive M&A and narrowing margins, Solera is a high-quality asset with predictable long-term revenue streams. The company also stated that as part of the process, the Board of Directors has formed a special committee, which has retained Centerview Partners LLC as its financial advisor and Sullivan & Cromwell as its legal advisor.

Vista founder, chairman and CEO Robert Smith said: “For nearly half a century, Solera has been serving the insurance and automotive industries with innovative software and information solutions”. With the portfolio of products the company has built and acquired, combined with the vision of its leadership, we believe Solera is incredibly well positioned for the next fifty years. The company went public in 2007 after paying $1 billion for Automatic Data Processing Inc.’s (ADP) claims services unit the year before.

“With more than $14 billion in cumulative capital commitments, Vista seeks to partner with world-class management teams looking to reach their full potential”, according to the company’s website.

SLH shares were up 8% as of Monday afternoon.

Vista Equity’s acquisition of Solera has been approved by the latter’s board of directors and is set to finish during the first quarter of 2016.