Shearman & Sterling Advises SunGard on Sale of Unit to Affiliates of Hellman & Friedman

Shearman & Sterling is representing its longtime client SunGard Data Systems Inc. in the sale of its Higher Education businesses to affiliates of Hellman & Friedman for a cash purchase price of $1.775 billion. Following the closing, SunGard’s Higher Education businesses will be combined under a new holding company with Datatel, an existing Hellman & Friedman portfolio company.

SunGard is one of the world’s leading software and technology services companies. SunGard has more than 20,000 employees and serves more than 25,000 customers in 70 countries. SunGard provides software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector. SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software. Hellman & Friedman LLC is a leading private equity investment firm with offices in San Francisco, New York and London. Since its founding in 1984, Hellman & Friedman has raised and, through its affiliated funds, managed over $25 billion of committed capital. The firm focuses on investing in superior business franchises and serving as a value-added partner to management in select industries including internet & digital media, software, business & marketing services, financial services, insurance, media, healthcare and energy & industrials. Datatel is a provider of innovative technology products, services, and insight to higher education. Colleges, universities, and technical schools across North America partner with Datatel to build Strategic Academic Enterprises dedicated to achieving student success. The company has focused on higher education since 1979.
The Shearman & Sterling team was led by New York mergers and acquisitions partner Clare O’Brien and included partners Laurence Bambino (New York-Tax), John Cannon (New York-Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits), Don J. Lonczak (Washington, DC-Tax), and Samuel Waxman (New York-Intellectual Property Transactions); counsel Ansgar Simon (New York-Tax); and associates Timothy Franklin (New York-Intellectual Property Transactions), Timothy Hanson (New York-Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits), Michael Jokic (New York-Intellectual Property Transactions), Derek Kershaw (New York-Tax), Meghan Moore (New York-Mergers & Acquisitions), Nathan Sawyer (New York-Mergers & Acquisitions), George Stroup (New York-Mergers & Acquisitions), Gary Tashjian (New York-Mergers & Acquisitions), Natalee Vernon (New York-Mergers & Acquisitions), Cody Wright (New York-Mergers & Acquisitions) and Dorman Yale (New York-Mergers & Acquisitions).