Corel

Corel is one of global manufacturers of the software. Over 100 million people more than in 75 countries use products of the company. The software helps people more inventively, more convincingly and more fascinatingly to express the ideas and to share impressions. For years of the activity the company gained fame thanks to the products which are reliable, simple in mastering and use, help people with achievement of new heights of efficiency.

The list of the products Corel mentioned by awards includes a number of the famous and the brands which are widely recognized around the world, such as CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite, Corel® Painter™, Corel DESIGNER® Technical Suite, Corel® PaintShop Photo®, Corel® VideoStudio®, Corel® WinDVD®, Corel® WordPerfect® Office, WinZip® and Corel® Digital Studio™.

History

2019: KKR purchased Corel

At the beginning of July, 2019 it became known of sale of Corel six months later after the Canadian company itself made large purchase, having purchased the Russian software maker for Parallels virtualization.

According to the technology edition TechCrunch with reference to several informants and also the message which the management of Corel distributed among the staff of the company the bargain with private investment group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) was concluded.

Corel is sold together with the Russian IT company Parallels

It is noted that the transaction is already closed, and Corel together with Parallels belongs to the KKR group now. The financial component of the agreement does not reveal. Representatives of the companies did not give comments of TechCrunch at the time of the publication of material.

In May, 2019 the PE Hub portal announced the interest of KKR in merger of Corel and negotiations in which it was talked of the amount of $1 billion.

After the transaction with KKR the Corel company is going to begin to expand the operating business. Corel develops such products as WordPerfect, CorelDraw and PaintShop Pro. Also KKR plans that the developer will continue to purchase the companies and startups.

KKR purchased Corel from Vector Capital which since 2003 owned everything or a part of business of the developer of graphics editors CorelDraw. No dismissals in Corel after sale to the company are planned.

Vector and Corel never disclosed information on financial performance and the number of clients. However in Vector characterized Corel as the "highly profitable" company which by the beginning of July, 2019 paid to shareholders dividends in the amount of more than $300 million.

In the e-mail it is told to the staff of Corel that the company has millions of clients who use different software platforms and applications (including Parallels).

Though flagship products of Corel mostly appeared in a shadow of the competing solutions of Microsoft and Adobe, the company will continue to advance the main line and also to be engaged in more modern solutions, like CorelCAD.

From the moment of the foundation in 1985 Corel made several key acquisitions. For example, Bibble and JASC Software developers and also the creator of the program for electronic processing of texts of WordPerfect were purchased.

Besides, Corel purchased the companies, the developing video editors of Ulead VideoStudio and Pinnacle Studio, the WinDVD video player, the WinZIP archiver, the graphics editor Paint Shop Pro, etc. The last by July, 2019 Corel acquisitions — software developer for visualization of communications of Mindjet MindManager and the creator of the graphics editor Gravit of the same name. 

Together Corel and Parallels develop applications and services which are held for use on different platforms, including Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Chromebooks, Linux, Raspberry Pi and also cloud storages.

The American KKR investment group purchased the owner of Parallels for $1 billion

In the publication of TechCrunch of July 2, 2019 it is said that quite recently Corel departed from focus on applications for creativity and increase in productivity of work, having placed emphasis on assets which more are suitable for satisfaction of needs of private users of computers and corporate clients. The acquisitions made by Corel before the transaction with KKR show accent shift towards e-commerce, subscriptions and other areas, journalists note.^[1]

The transaction with KKR should be profitable to Vector company. The last purchased Corel twice: at first for $124 million, then for $30 million. Thus, Vector sold company 33 times more expensive, than purchased, thanks to numerous acquisitions of Coral.

Corel several times issued stocks in free circulation and withdrew them from there. To the transaction with the KKR company was not public.

2018

Corel officially announced Parallels purchase

The Corel corporation officially announced acquisition of the developer of cross-platform solutions Parallels. This TAdviser was announced on December 21, 2018 by representatives of Parallels company. The plans of Corel are investment of considerable means into the company for the purpose of creation of additional opportunities for growth by means of consolidation of extensive clients, partner networks and trademarks of both companies. Read more here.

Purchase of the developer of means of virtualization Parallels

On November 27, 2018 it became known of sale of the developer of means of virtualization Parallels of the Canadian company Corel Corporation. Read more here.

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