Thoma Bravo acquires Flexera for second time paying $2.85B

Thoma Bravo must really like Flexera, an IT asset management company out of Chicago. The private equity firm bought the company for the second time today. Sources told TechCrunch the price was $2.85 billion.

Technically, Thoma Bravo is getting a majority stake in the company, buying it from previous owners TA Associates and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board. The firm originally bought Flexera in 2008 from Macrovision for just $200 million. It turned it around just three years later in 2011 for $1 billion profit, according to reports.

While reports last year had the company's investors looking for $3 billion, they didn't quite reach that mark, but it's still a hefty profit as the company continues to change hands, giving each of its owners a substantial return on investment.

At $2.85 billion, Thoma Bravo will have a bigger challenge on its hands to make that same kind of return, but it sees a company it liked before and it still likes it, especially the management team, which to some degree at least remains intact.

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Jim [Ryan] and his team have positioned Flexera for sustained growth by focusing on the strategic challenges enterprises face with complex IT infrastructures," Seth Boro, managing partner at Thoma Bravo said in a statement.

Ryan was pleased to see the company's value continue to rise and to connect once again with Thoma Bravo. This is a resounding vote of confidence in the growth Flexera has shown and the strategic initiatives we've undertaken to address the exponential challenges faced by organizations today," he said in a statement.

The company was founded in 2008 and has bought 12 companies along the way including five in the last couple of years, according to Crunchbase data. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next subject to regulatory approvals.