ZURICH/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Financial investor KKR is preparing Swiss software group SoftwareONE for a bourse listing, sources told Reuters on Friday.
KKR has hired investment bank Rothschild to plan an initial public offering (IPO) of SoftwareONE, several people familiar with the matter said, adding that the IPO could take place this year.
The company is expected to be valued at several billion Swiss francs.
SoftwareONE and KKR declined to comment. Rothschild had no immediate comment.
Since taking over German IT firm Comparex earlier this year, SoftwareONE employs around 5,500 people. The company, headquartered in Stans, Switzerland, helps companies manage an estimated ten billion euros in software purchases from vendors such as Microsoft, Adobe and IBM. In 2015, KKR acquired a 25 percent stake in the company, the majority of which is still held by the company’s founders.
Reporting by Oliver Hirt and Arno Schuetze; writing by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; editing by Louise Heavens
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