Apax to take consultancy firm Thoughtworks private in $1.75 billion deal

(Reuters) -Thoughtworks on Monday agreed to be taken private by Apax Partners in a deal worth about $1.75 billion, the technology consultancy firm said, nearly three years after its stock market debut.

The private equity firm will purchase all the outstanding shares of Thoughtworks common stock that it does not already own for $4.40 per share.

The offer by funds affiliated with Apax represents a premium of about 30% to the Thoughtworks stock’s last closing price.

Shares of the Chicago-based company rose 26.8% in premarket trading. The company’s stock has lost 87% of its value since the start of 2022.

Thoughtworks said its board on Friday enlarged the company’s prior restructuring plans to capture additional savings of between $85 million and $95 million, to target total savings of $185 million to $210 million. It expects the restructuring plans to be completed by the end of October.

The additional cost reduction efforts would impact about 6%-7% of the company’s global headcount, it added. This roughly translates to around 630 to 735 employees based on the more than 10,500 headcount disclosed in Thoughtworks 2023 annual report.

Thoughtworks is a provider of a range of services, including strategy, design and engineering services. It counts Walmart and Canadian wireless carrier Telus Corp as its customers.

The go-private deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter this year. Apax intends to finance the transaction with fully committed equity financing and added that the deal is not subject to any financing condition.

Separately, Thoughtworks issued its second-quarter results, posting a drop of 12.4% in its revenue at $251.7 million from a year earlier. However, it was slightly ahead of analysts’ estimates of $251.3 million, according to LSEG data.

(Reporting by Priyanka.G in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza and Shailesh Kuber)