HPE in talks to sell off its software portfolio

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is reportedly in talks to sell its software division to private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

According to Reuters, HPE is hoping it can get up to $10 billion for its software portfolio, which includes Vertica, ArcSight, and products from its acquisitions of Autonomy and Mercury Interactive.

Other buyers could come into the picture with higher bids. HPE has already received offers of as much as $7.5 billion, Reuters reports, while Vista Equity Partners, Carlyle Group, and TPG Capital have all made bids.

HPE, which officially split off from Hewlett Packard’s PC and printer business last year, is aiming to slim down its operations even further in order to focus on high-growth segments such as networking, storage, and datacenters.

HPE’s software revenue has declined every quarter since the company split from HP, largely due to the rise of cloud subscription offerings. For 2015, the unit generated $3.6 billion in net revenue, down from $3.9 billion the previous year.

This isn’t the first time the company has sought to sell off assets post-HP split. In May, HPE struck a deal to spin off its enterprise services unit and merge it with CSC so it could focus on cloud and datacenter infrastructure.

[Source:-ZD net]

Saheli