Quest Software

Quest Software is a developer of software products to protect information, manage and copy databases, migrate, audit changes, monitor and improve the performance of IT infrastructure and other tasks. The company's solutions increase the performance of Java and PL/SQL developers, provide centralized system administration on Mac OS, UNIX and Linux platforms, and conduct comprehensive monitoring of the enterprise infrastructure. In the vendor's product portfolio, there are several dozen different solutions, including the Toad developer and database administrator solution, Enterprise Reporter, Change Auditor, KACE, Desktop Authority Management and Gpoadmin corporate eco-system protection, control and management tools, as well as many others.

History

2021: Clearlake Capital Group bought Quest Software for $5.4 billion

At the end of November 2021, the investment company Clearlake Capital Group bought Quest Software from Francisco Partners. The deal amounted to $5.4 billion, including the shares of the sold manufacturer of information security solutions.

After the close of the deal, Quest Software CEO Patrick Nichols will continue to lead the company with the support of the existing Clearlake Capital Group team, which will become the main shareholder in Quest Software.

Clearlake Capital Group acquired Quest Software for $5.4 billion

We have long admired Quest Software as the leading software platform for cybersecurity, data analysis and identity-oriented IT operations management, as well as company software solutions that help protect enterprise IT environments, "said Behdad Egbali, co-founder and managing partner of Clearlake. - We are pleased to work with Patrick Nichols and Caroline McCarthy, Finance Directors of Quest Software, to further develop the Clearlake O.P.S. framework, which will help the company strengthen strategic growth plans, including best practices to accelerate the adoption of cloud technologies and Solutions SaaS.

The new partnership with Clearlake accelerates the promotion of Quest Software as a leader and innovator by increasing the pace of investment in major product roadmaps, cloud/SaaS offerings, and global presence in the computing environment and related areas. We will continue to expand our client base, while the tasks of modernization and security will become more complex, "said Patrick Nichols.

Clearlake Director Paul Huber and one of the company's partners, Prashant Mehrotra, said Quest Software "is able to take advantage of new growth trends in cybersecurity markets, data analytics and identity-oriented IT operations management software."

It is assumed that from its investments, Francisco Partners made a small profit and achieved double the growth of Quest Software.^[1][2]

2016: Dell sells Quest Software

June 20, 2016 it became known about the sale of the software business. The Dell deal sold, in particular, subsidiaries of Quest Software and (SonicWall provider of intelligent network security and data protection solutions), for which the corporation at one time paid a total of $3.6 billion. More. here

2012: Company sold to Dell

• In March 2012, Quest Software announced its intention to buy back all its outstanding shares (their value was about $2 billion) and become a private company. Financial support was to be provided by the venture capital firm Insight Venture Partners. However, at the same time, Quest Software announced that it would try to find buyers who could offer better conditions for shareholders. The search was unsuccessful - the company says that it has already received several offers for purchase, although the names of possible buyers are not called. A special commission at Quest Software concluded that some of the proposals may be more profitable than the company's original plan.

Observers suggested that Dell, where a new software development division was recently created, could make an offer to buy Quest. Dell has recently bought several companies developing IT infrastructure management tools. Quest Software works in the same area. It is possible that the Big Four companies of IT management tools: BMC, IBM, CA Technologies and Hewlett-Packard showed interest.

• On July 2, 2012, Dell announced the signing of a binding agreement to purchase Quest Software by paying $28 per share in cash. The transaction amount will be $2.4 billion. The deal has already received approval from the boards of directors of both participants. It is scheduled to close in Q3 2012 following standard procedures, including approval of Quest shareholders.

Several buyers were interested in acquiring Quest Software. In early March, the company announced that it had accepted an offer from the private investment fund Insight Venture Partners in the amount of $2 billion or $23 per share. However, Quest said last week that it received a better offer of $2.32 billion or $27.5 per share from a certain buyer, whose name declined to be reported. Unofficial sources said that this buyer is Dell.

The refusal to sell the Insight investment fund, with which Quest managed to sign a binding agreement, will cost Quest $37 million in compensation, including a $25 million fine and $12 million in compensation for expenses incurred, Reuters reports.

At the time of sale, Quest specializes in developing software for data management, data protection, performance optimization, workplace management, management of Windows server applications (Exchange, Lotus Notes, Office 365, SharePoint, etc.) and account management and access control software.

According to the official announcement, Quest technologies and solutions will be part of the portfolio of the newly formed Dell Software Group and will help Dell expand the portfolio of solutions designed for enterprise customers. The purchase of Quest is one of Dell's many recent acquisitions. Dell's goal is to strengthen the portfolio of intellectual property, solutions, and technologies that help deliver end-to-end, end-to-end solutions.

At the time of the transaction, Quest employs about 1.5 thousand sales specialists and about 1.3 thousand developers. Quest's customer base includes more than 100,000 companies from various countries around the world, including 87% of Fortune 500 companies^[3].

Quest's revenue for the last fiscal year delivered $857 million. For comparison, Dell's software business has an annual turnover of about $1.2 billion.

2004: Ratmir Timashev and Andrey Baronov sell Quest Software to Aelita Software

In 2004, Aelita Software, created by Russians Ratmir Timashev and Andrei Baronov and developing tools for managing corporate networks, was sold to Quest Software for $115 million.

1987: Foundation of the company

Quest was founded in 1987 with headquarters in Aliso Viejo, California, USA.

Partner Program

Quest Partner Circle is a multi-level vendor collaboration program with companies at different levels of access to support resources, bonuses and discounts. Traditionally, the vendor encourages distributors and resellers who build a full life cycle around its product portfolio: work on the project, integration, support and maintenance. The Platinum Partner level requires at least 4 employees who have received in-depth Quest certificates.

For its part, Quest offers the maximum level of support and support, discounts and benefits for the purchase, as well as technical and business support for the software. Also among the priority areas of cooperation between the vendor and the partner in Platinum status are the provision of NFR keys, assistance in finding customers and access to Virtual Lab.

• ttop Company partners in the TAdviser directory.

Notes