3 Firms Steer Qlik’s $560 Million Deal for Data Co. Attunity

Private equity-owned visual analytics company Qlik Technologies Inc. said Thursday it will take over data integration and management firm Attunity Ltd. in a $560 million deal, with Kirkland & Ellis LLP steering the buyer and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and Goldfarb Seligman & Co. guiding the seller.

The deal will see Qlik pay $23.50 for each Attunity share, representing an 18 percent premium on the Burlington, Massachusetts-based company’s closing share price. According to Qlik — the Thoma Bravo LLC-owned provider of data management and analytics tools — the acquisition expands the company's enterprise data management offerings, on which the Philadelphia-headquartered firm can improve its existing analytics platform.

The deal for Attunity, combined with the July acquisition of data management firm Podium Data and the rollout of enterprise data management platform Qlik Data Catalyst, improves Qlik's ability to handle cross-platform data streaming, and sets the stage for a move into cloud and real-time analytics, the company said.

"Attunity's strength in real-time data delivery across complex cloud environments will uniquely position Qlik to help customers lead with data and align their enterprise analytics strategy," Qlik CEO Mike Capone said in a statement. "Attunity has demonstrated strong growth in a large market and together we're better positioned to serve our enterprise customers along with our partner ecosystem to solve the most challenging data problems."

Qlik said Attunity offers a number of services that will boost its own products and services, including data replication and distribution, test data management, data connectivity, file transfers, data warehouse automation, data usage analytics and cloud data delivery. The company's software is used either directly or indirectly by major companies around the world, including Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., and IBM, Qlik noted.

"We are excited to be joining Qlik, combining our data integration and big data management capabilities with the analytics leader to accelerate our success," Attunity Chairman and CEO Shimon Alon said in a statement Thursday. "We believe the transaction is in the best interest of Attunity's stakeholders and provides Attunity with additional awareness and scale to execute our strategic plans as we continue to provide our customers with the premier products and services they have come to expect."

The tie-up between Qlik and Attunity is expected to close in the second quarter of 2019.

Attunity is represented by a Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP team including corporate partners William H. Aaronson and Lee Hochbaum and associate Francesca Campbell, tax partner William A. Curran, executive compensation and benefits partner Veronica M. Wissel, intellectual property and technology associate Daniel F. Forester, and antitrust and competition partner Jesse Solomon and counsel Mary K. Marks. It is also represented by a Goldfarb Seligman & Co. team including Ido Zemach and Daniel Kahn.

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is serving as financial adviser to Attunity.

Qlik is represented by a Kirkland & Ellis LLP team including corporate partners Gerald Nowak, Corey Fox, Bradley Reed and John Berger, and associates Andrew Struckmeyer and Curt Ostosh.