Thoma Bravo to acquire Ping Identity for $2.8B

Investment firm Thoma Bravo is acquiring identity and access management vendor Ping Identity for approximately $2.8 billion in an all-cash transaction, the companies announced Wednesday.

Ping Identity, which is known for a slew of IAM products and services under its PingOne platform, will be acquired at $28.50 a share, according to a press release announcing the deal. This represents a 63% premium over Ping's closing share price on Tuesday, the last full trading day prior to the announcement, as well as a 52% premium over Ping's volume-weighted average price for the 60 days leading up to Aug. 2.

Ping Identity will become a private company when the deal closes, which is expected in the fourth quarter of 2022. The transaction was unanimously approved by Ping's board of directors.

"A tectonic shift is occurring in intelligent identity solutions for the enterprise," said Seth Boro, a managing partner at Thoma Bravo, in the announcement. "Ping Identity's unique capabilities and strong position in enterprise identity security make it a great platform to deliver customer outcomes, expand into new use cases and support digital transformations. We are highly impressed with the talented Ping Identity team and look forward to working collaboratively in the years to come."

Ping Identity was founded in 2002 and over the last decade became a prominent vendor in the evolving IAM market with single sign-on, multifactor authentication and federated identity management offerings. In 2016, Vista Equity Partners acquired the company for an undisclosed amount. In 2019, Ping Identity went public with an IPO that raised approximately $187 million at $15 per share.

It's unclear what Thoma Bravo has planned for Ping Identity long term; it's possible the investment firm could combine Ping Identity with other security vendors in Thoma Bravo's portfolio. The firm did not respond to SearchSecurity's request for comment.

Thoma Bravo owns numerous companies in the security sector, including Sophos, which was acquired in 2020, and Proofpoint, acquired last year.

Ping Identity CEO Andre Durand referred to the deal as a "compelling transaction" in the press release.

"This compelling transaction is a testament to Ping Identity's leading enterprise identity solutions, our talented team, and our outstanding customers and partners," Durand said. "We are pleased to partner with Thoma Bravo, which has a strong track record of investing in high-growth cloud software security businesses and supporting companies with initiatives to turbocharge innovation and open new markets."

Alexander Culafi is a writer, journalist and podcaster based in Boston.