Buyout firm Apax favorite to win Finastra unit in $2 billion deal, sources say

By Amy-Jo Crowley

LONDON (Reuters) -Private equity firm Apax Partners has emerged as the frontrunner to buy Finastra’s treasury and capital markets (TCM) business for around $2 billion including debt, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

London-based Apax has been competing in an auction that the financial technology company’s majority owner, fellow buyout firm Vista Equity Partners, has held for the unit in recent months, the sources said.

Final bids were submitted in recent days and Apax is now considered the favorite to buy the unit, said the sources, who noted an agreement could be reached in the coming days, once negotiations and the financing are settled.

No agreement with Apax was guaranteed though and another party could ultimately emerge as the winner, cautioned the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

Apax and Vista declined comment. Finastra did not respond to a comment request.

London-based Finastra was created in 2017 by Vista, which took Canadian payments technology provider D+H Corp private in a C$4.8 billion ($3.5 billion) deal and then merged it with Misys, a banking and capital markets software business that it already owned.

The TCM unit provides software which helps financial institutions process trades and manage risk and compliance.

Dealmaking activity has generally slowed in recent weeks as market volatility caused by U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war has made company executives more cautious. It is also harder for buyers and sellers to agree how assets are valued in such a turbulent environment.

Where mergers and acquisitions have endured though is in businesses which are less affected by tariffs, such as financial software.

Last month, buyout firm KKR struck a $3.1 billion agreement with S&P Global and CME Group to acquire OSTTRA, which provides software to handle post-trading tasks.

($1 = 1.3784 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Amy-Jo Crowley in London; Additional Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York; Writing by David French; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)