Splunk Jumps on Hellman & Friedman’s 7.5% Stake in Tech Company
(Bloomberg) -- Private equity firm Hellman & Friedman has taken a 7.5% stake in Splunk Inc., a show of confidence in the software company’s incoming chief executive officer.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Ukraine Open to Russia's Neutrality Demand But Won’t Yield Territory, Aide Says
Owners Fear Planes ‘Are Gone Forever’ After Russia Shields Them From Seizure
Ukraine Update: Firms Exit Russia, Fitch Sees ‘Imminent’ Default
Hellman & Friedman’s holdings are valued at $1.38 billion, according to a securities filing Friday. The disclosure sent the stock climbing as much as 8.3% in intraday trading.
Shares in Splunk, like many software companies, are down since late last year. It has lost about a quarter of its value since November. Splunk got a short-lived boost from news that Cisco Systems Inc. had discussed an acquisition for more than $20 billion, but the talks stopped early last month.
Splunk said this week that Gary Steele, currently the CEO of cybersecurity company Proofpoint Inc., will take the helm at Splunk starting April 11. He replaces Doug Merritt, who resigned in November.
The Wall Street Journal reported news of the private equity investment earlier Friday. Hellman & Friedman said in the filing that Splunk is undervalued and has “tremendous long-term growth potential.”
(Updates with shares in the second paragraph. A previous version corrected a misspelling of the company name in the headline, which was due to an editing error.)
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
Putin’s Endgame Starts to Look Like Reducing Ukraine to Rubble
Putin Clings to Russia’s Market Economy as Sanctions Wind Back the Clock
Remote-Work Experts Are in Demand as Return to Office Begins Anew
Powell’s Fed Is Set to Attempt a Rare Soft Landing—in the Fog of War, No Less
The GOP’s Toomey Rails Against the Fed Becoming ‘Politburo’ for Credit
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
