EDS wraps up sale of software unit
The IT services company has completed the $2.05 billion sale of its product development software unit, UGS PLM Solutions, to a private equity group.
Struggling Electronic Data Systems, an information technology services company, said on Thursday that it has completed the sale of its product development software unit for $2.05 billion, before working capital adjustments. A private equity group made up of Bain Capital, Silver Lake Partners and Warburg Pincus bought the unit, which provides software and services for product data management, collaboration and product design. The unit had been called UGS PLM Solutions under EDS, and is now an independent software and services company named UGS.
EDS said the sale improves its financial flexibility and long-term competitiveness. The Plano, Texas, company, which has wrestled with troubled contracts and reported a net loss of $12 million for the first quarter, said in April that it was on track to end the year with zero net debt. "While clearly a healthy and profitable business, UGS PLM Solutions was not a strategic component of our growth strategy," EDS CEO Mike Jordan said in a statement.