Top 10 Mergers and Acquisitions of 2021

Leading IT brand Oracle announced its decision to buy the electronic medical records and healthcare IT services brand Cerner in a $28.3 billion deal at the end of 2021. The companies announced they were expecting to complete the deal in 2022, expanding Oracles already significant position in the healthcare IT and data environment, to create new opportunities for partners.

Once the acquisition is officially completed, it will make Cerner one of the industry business units of Oracle. The collection held by Oracle today includes everything from financial services, to pharmaceutical, government, and construction companies. Oracle also plans on making its Voice Digital Assistant system one of the key features on the front-end of Cerner’s clinical tools.

Another major brand taking an interest in the healthcare environment, Microsoft announced a definitive agreement to purchase Nuance in April 2021. The acquisition, valued at $19.7 billion will provide Microsoft with access to a trusted cloud and AI software leader responsible for managing decades of healthcare and AI data. 

The purchase of Nuance will build on an already successful existing partnership between the two companies announced in 2019. By updating the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare with Nuance technology, Microsoft hopes to better empower healthcare providers with ambient clinical intelligence among other services.

Leading communications company Ericsson announced its somewhat controversial decision to purchase leading CPaaS company, Vonage in 2021. The purchase, worth a total of $6.2 billion will allow Ericsson to take further steps to modernise its communication strategy. The deal will give Ericsson access to cloud contact centre, VoIP, and communication APIs. 

With this acquisition, Ericsson is also planning on building on its 4G and 5G networking technology by leveraging crucial developmental tools within the Vonage environment. In the longer-term, Ericsson intends to offer it’s entire ecosystem of partners full access to a wide range of benefits from the Vonage investment.

Cloudera, an enterprise cloud data company, announced it had entered a definitive agreement to be purchased by the Clayton brand in 2021. The all-cash transaction, valued at $5.3 billion resulted to Cloudera becoming a private company. According to press releases published by Cloudera at the time of the transaction, the decision was unanimously approved by the company’s board. 

The purchase by Clayton will deliver significant value to Cloudera shareholders, who were set to receive $16 in cash value per share. Additionally, it ensured that Cloudera could continue on its long-term path to creating a hybrid-cloud environment for analytics spanning the comprehensive data lifecycle, from the AI ecosystem to the edge.

Leading software investment firm, Thoma Bravo, announced their successful acquisition of Proofpoint, an innovator in cybersecurity and compliance. The acquisition was valued at a total of $12.3 billion in case, and ended in August 2021, following the initial announcement in April 2021. 

Proofpoint CEO, Gary Steele said the company was excited about the next chapter in its journey. According to Steele, he believed Proofpoint was well-positioned to benefit from the significant experience of Thoma Bravo in helping software companies to grow. Proofpoint plans to continue developing its offerings for security going forward.

One of the more unusual acquisitions on this list, McAfee, a global leader in digital protection software, announced it was currently being acquired by an investor group, led by the “Advent” corporation, among many other market leaders. The acquisition, valued at $14 billion, will allow the investor group to acquire all outstanding shares of McAfee common stock. 

The purchase price at the time of the reveal represented a premium of around 22.6% over the McAfee closing share price in November 2021. Following the completion of the transaction, the Investor Group will continue to operate as a privately-held company.

Permira, a global private equity firm focused on supporting the transformational growth of businesses, announced its decision to purchase the Mimecast Limited brand in December 2021. Mimecast is a leading security and cyber resiliency organisation, earning a total of $5.8 billion from the purchase. According to the terms of the agreement, all remaining shares of Mimecast are being acquired for around $80 per share. 

Commenting on the acquisition, Chairman and CEO of Mimecast, Peter Bauer noted that the purchase will allow the company to continue moving at accelerated speed towards its goals. The brand is keen to continue “strengthening the cybersecurity” of its customers going forward.

UK-based software innovators AVEVA announced their decision to purchase their US rival, OSIsoft in March of 2021. Defined as a “transformative deal” for the brand, the acquisition cost AVEVA approximately $5 billion, and will allow the company to form one of the largest open standards-based industrial platforms in the market. 

Using the combined technology from both ecosystems, AVEVA will be upgrading its strategy to support customers in industrial organisations as they continue on their digital transformations. The new technology will help brands discover new ways to unlock deeper data-driven insights, stronger business resilience, and better sustainability. 

Leading digital solutions company and multinational conglomerate, Hitachi announced its decision to purchase the GlobalLogic, a specialist in technology outsourcing, during March 2021. The deal, worth $9.6 billion also included the repayment of GlobalLogic debt.

GlobalLogic’s unique capabilities in technology outsourcing, combined with the innovative Hitachi Lumada ecosystem will allow GlobalLogic to deploy an extensive library of digital solutions to a global market, helping customers solve countless issues through the agile development of applications in the cloud. GlobalLogic will continue to expand its service offering following this acquisition.

Okta, an innovative identity, and access management company based in San Francisco, signed a definitive agreement to acquire Auth0 in March 2021. Like Okta, Auth0 is an identity management company, destined to help bring further functionality and opportunities into the Okta ecosystem. The acquisition was valued at approximately $6.5 billion. 

Following the completion of the purchase in October 2021, Auth0 will continue to operate as an independent unit within the Okta brand, led by its CEO Eugenio Pace. Both Okta and Auth0 platforms are set to be developed and integrated over time, to accelerate innovation for the Okta name.