Wall­dorf — Wall­dorf-based soft­ware giant SAP plans to acquire all outstan­ding shares of Qual­t­rics for eight billion U.S. dollars in cash. The boards of SAP and Qual­t­rics have appro­ved the tran­sac­tion. Qual­t­rics’ share­hol­ders have also alre­ady appro­ved the acquisition.

To cover the purchase price and acqui­si­tion-rela­ted costs, SAP says it has secu­red finan­cing of seven billion euros. The syndi­ca­ted loan is being arran­ged by US bank J.P. Morgan, with legal advice from Henge­ler Muel­ler.

Good­win Proc­ter, Jones Day and Allen & Overy as well as Henge­ler are provi­ding legal advice on the billion-dollar deal.

Accor­ding to a report in the Handels­blatt, it is the largest acqui­si­tion SAP has made to date. The price SAP is offe­ring exceeds 20 times Qual­t­rics’ reve­nue. Jones Day and Allen & Overy advi­sed the company on the tran­sac­tion; Allen & Overy was respon­si­ble for finan­cing issues.

Qual­t­rics specia­li­zes in expe­ri­ence manage­ment soft­ware; the company coll­ects, mana­ges and analy­zes data that enables compa­nies to measure, for exam­ple, custo­mer and employee satis­fac­tion. The company was advi­sed on the acqui­si­tion by a U.S. team from the Good­win law firm. Prior to the announce­ment of the acqui­si­tion by SAP, Qual­t­rics was sche­du­led to complete an initial public offe­ring of its common stock shortly. Good­win also advi­sed the company on this.

The acqui­si­tion is expec­ted to be comple­ted in the first half of 2019.