KKR & Co. and Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC are closing in on a deal to take Cloudera Inc. private at a valuation of about $4.7 billion, a person familiar with the matter said.
The private equity firms could finalize a deal Tuesday to buy out the software firm at $16 a share, or about a 24% premium to its previous close, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing an internal deal. Representatives for Cloudera and KKR didn’t respond to emailed requests for comment after normal business hours. A CD&R representative declined to comment.
Cloudera – which counts activist investor Carl Icahn as its largest shareholder – has explored a potential sale since mid-2020 after receiving takeover interest, Bloomberg News has reported. If sold, it would mark another chapter for a former high-flyer that’s struggled to make money on products related to open-source software, which is usually free to use. Major technology companies including Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc., and Microsoft Corp. have also pushed into some of the cloud software products that are Cloudera’s specialty.
Dow Jones first reported the deal on Monday without details on the offer price.
