Adobe Acquires Marketing Software Maker in Multi-Billion Dollar Deal

​In U.S. M&A markets last week, a total of 35 deals took place, accounting for $10.19 billion in capital invested. Approximately $5 billion of the capital came from five deals in the information technology sector. The business-to-business industry engaged in eight transactions, totaling $1.70 billion of capital invested. The following are a list of transactions that fall in Skyline’s key market focuses:

• Last week, marketing software firm Marketo was acquired by Adobe Systems (NAS: ADBE) for a $4.75 billion price tag. Marketo’s software suite allows its clients to provide personalized engagement with customers across a range of outlets including social media, text messaging, and e-mail. The deal will help Adobe compete with rival software giants Salesforce and Oracle, who recently began providing software marketing services.

• Global chemical distributor firm Univar will buy Nexeo in a cash and stock deal worth $1.05 billion. Nexeo is a multinational provider of chemical and plastic resin raw materials, including prime thermoplastic resin, lubricants, metalworking fluids, coatings, adhesives, and sealants. Univar is using the deal to expand its operations into North America.

• OnCourse Learning, a professional training webinar platform, is set to be acquired by Germany-based media education firm Bertelsmann for $500 million, according to Reuters. OnCourse has roughly 375 employees and a library of 22,000 training courses used for corporate and advanced technical training purposes.

• San Deigo biotechnology firm Senomyx has reached an agreement to be acquired by Firmenich, the world’s largest fragrance and flavor business, for $1.50 per share. Senomyx is not a traditional biotech company in that it is actively researching and developing food additives to amplify certain flavors and aromas.
  

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• In a local deal for Omaha, TEAM Software announced an investment from Silicon Valley private equity group Accel-KKR. TEAM develops integrated financial, operations, and workforce management solutions onto its cloud-based platform. The firm chiefly designs its platform for the janitorial and security industry segments. Accel-KKR is a tech-focused investment firm with $5 billion in capital commitments.