Infotech sees robust investment in Q1; Application software brings in $62.38B

Information technology raised $95.41 billion through private equity and venture capital deals in the first quarter, following a year of intensive activity in the sector.

The gross value of these investments, which include M&A deals where the buyer was a private equity or venture capital firm or a hedge fund manager, was up 32.2% on an annual basis, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

This is the second-highest total for the information technology sector during a single quarter since 2018. Investments peaked in the fourth quarter of 2021, with 2,687 deals bringing in $105.38 billion.

Information technology had the highest aggregate transaction value during the first quarter and industrials placed second with $48.05 billion based on 668 deals tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Healthcare ranked third and attracted $24.96 billion from 914 deals.

Application software had the highest investment activity among information technology subsectors in the first quarter and brought in about two-thirds of the total investment pool for the sector in 2022. Application software garnered $62.38 billion in investments based on 1,642 deals announced between Jan. 1 and March 31.

TIBCO Software Inc. and Evergreen Coast Capital Corp. agreed to acquire Citrix Systems Inc. for $16.65 billion in a cash deal from an investor group including Elliott Management Corp., BlackRock Inc., Vanguard Group Inc. and T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. This was the largest private equity and venture capital involvement in the information technology industry for the quarter.

Thoma Bravo LP's agreement to acquire enterprise software vendor Anaplan Inc. for $10.45 billion was the second-largest deal. Private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc. is acquiring terminals solutions and services business line from Worldline SA under a $2.95 billion deal.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Motive Capital Management LLC invested $1.40 billion in wealth management services provider FNZ (UK) Ltd. Swiss private equity firm Partners Group Holding AG is acquiring software developer Forterro for $1.12 billion.