ANDY LISTER
Managing Partner
PTC responds to mid-market SaaS PLM need with $715m Arena Solutions acquisition
PTC is set to acquire product lifecycle management leader Arena Solutions, enabling PTC to deliver a complete CAD and PLM SaaS solution to the growing mid-market.
Against a background of long-term market growth for SaaS-based product development software, PTC has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Arena Solutions which serves more than 1,200 customers in the electronics, high-tech and medical device industries. The deal will extend PTC’s presence in the attractive mid-market sector where SaaS solutions are becoming the standard.
The Arena Solutions product realisation platform combines product lifecycle management (PLM) and quality and requirements management. This technology enables collaboration between participants throughout the product design and manufacturing process and beyond, into the extended supply chain.
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a dramatic acceleration in the market’s willingness to adopt SaaS technology. As businesses demand secure, collaborative, cloud computing environments, PTC’s Arena Solutions acquisition is set to complement its 2019 acquisition of Onshape for $470m, a SaaS leader in CAD and collaborative design tools.
These two deals bring together a range of CAD and PLM SaaS products under the PTC brand, positioning the firm as a leader in this growing market.
Arena Solutions is in a strong financial position following double digit growth in 2019 which is reflected in its annualised recurring revenue figure of around $50m. PTC’s acquisition of Arena Solutions for $715m in cash is expected to be neutral to PTC’s FY’21 cashflow. The deal is expected to complete in PTC’s fiscal Q2 in 2021 subject to the usual closing conditions and regulatory reviews.
“PTC’s $715m acquisition of Arena, at a valuation of 14x recurring revenue, provides it with a full CAD / PLM cloud solution and signals that the engineering and design software market is ready to transition to SaaS. We expect other CAD players will follow suite in looking to bulk up SaaS propositions in this space.”
Andy Lister | Partner
Andy has spent the last ten years advising entrepreneurs, shareholders and boards on business sales, acquisitions, equity fund raisings, valuations and strategic reviews. Andy has worked with clients in a number of technology-enabled sectors, including smart infrastructure, the internet of things, M2M communications and clean technology, and has also worked with a number of high growth manufacturing and industrial distribution businesses.
Andy has a particular interest in cross border M&A, has completed deals with North American, European, African and Asian counterparties, and brings practical emerging markets experience having worked as an M&A advisor in India from 2008 – 2010.
Andy is a prize-winning chartered accountant, qualifying in 2004 with KPMG in Leeds, before joining KPMG’s Corporate Finance team in London in 2005. Andy was a Director at KPMG before joining Acuity in July 2015.