Investors to Buy SunGard for $10.8 Bln NEW YORK (Reuters) - Financial technology company SunGard Data Systems Inc. (SDS.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) said on Monday it agreed to be acquired by seven private investment firms for $10.8 billion in cash, the biggest leveraged buyout in more than 15 years. The investor group buying SunGard is led by Silver Lake Partners and includes Bain Capital, The Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Providence Equity Partners and Texas Pacific Group. SunGard, which has more than 13,000 employees, works with a majority of Wall Street's banks and brokers and supports nearly three out of four Nasdaq trades. Its shares rose 10 percent on the news of the acquisition. SunGard also said that it would cancel previously announced plans to spin off its Availability Services unit, which helps corporations keep operations running in the event of natural disaster or terrorism. SunGard has also served as an incubator and acquirer of more than 100 technology companies. The investor group offered to pay $36 cash for every SunGard share, a 14 percent premium to its closing share price on Thursday. The group said it also will take on $500 million of SunGard bond debt, which will remain outstanding. SunGard said combined the deal was valued at about $11.3 billion. The group and SunGard executives declined to break down how that figure was calculated. Shares of SunGard rose $3.15 to a record high of $34.70 in early trade Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares closed at $24.95 on March 18, before the New York Post first reported that SunGard was in talks to be acquired by a group of buyout funds. The purchase is expected to be completed in the third quarter. Financing will come from equity contributions from the investor firms, plus loans from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) , Citigroup Inc. (C.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) , Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE: Quote , Profile , Research ) , Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) and Morgan Stanley (MWD.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) . The deal would be the biggest leveraged buyout of a public company since Kohlberg Kravis Roberts bought RJR Nabisco for $25 billion in 1989. COMPANY SOLD IN ONE PIECE Based in Wayne, Pennsylvania, SunGard that last year earned $454 million, while revenues surged 20 percent to $3.6 billion. Credit Suisse First Boston advised SunGard in the deal, while Morgan Stanley advised the investor group.     Continued ... Quelle "Investors to Buy SunGard for $10.8 Bln" : reuters.com Main page for "Investors to Buy SunGard for $10.8 Bln"