BY Richard Summerfield
Private equity giant KKR has agreed to acquire chipmaker Broadcom’s end-user computing (EUC) unit in a deal worth around $4bn.
Upon completion of the deal, the EUC division will become a standalone company, with greater access to growth capital and a dedicated strategic focus on empowering customers and partners worldwide with innovative digital workspace solutions. The unit will continue to be run by its existing management team led by its existing senior vice president and general manager Shankar Iyer. KKR is making its investment primarily through its North America Fund XIII.
“We are confident that this pending transaction marks an exciting next chapter for the EUC Division and one that will create enormous opportunities and benefits for our customers, partners and employees,” said Mr Iyer. “The KKR team knows our industry well and is the ideal strategic partner to help us become a standalone company with an exclusive focus on delivering powerful tools for the digital workspace.”
Originally a division of VMware prior to Broadcom’s $61bn acquisition of the company in 2023, the EUC division provides a leading suite of digital workspace solutions that allow organisations to securely deliver and manage applications, desktops and data across any device or platform. Its flagship products include Horizon, a leading desktop and application virtualisation platform, and Workspace ONE, a marquee unified endpoint management platform. Broadcom announced its intention to divest its EUC unit in December 2023.
“Workspace ONE and Horizon are best-in-class platforms chosen by many of the world’s leading enterprises to create seamless and secure digital workspaces with interoperability across increasingly complicated technology stacks,” said Bradley Brown, managing director at KKR. “We see great potential to grow the EUC Division by empowering this talented team and investing in product innovation, delivering excellence for customers and building strategic partnerships.”
“EUC is a leader within large, high growth categories and demand for the business’s marquee offerings continues to grow as the workplace and the needs at the front-line evolve rapidly,” said John Park, a partner at KKR. “We are excited to deploy our experience and toolkit at KKR to back a world-class company in its next chapter as a standalone business, with accelerated investment and a continued focus on product and customer-centricity.”
Notably, KKR has announced its intention to implement an employee ownership programme, giving employees a chance to own equity in the new company alongside KKR. The deal is expected to close some time later this year, subject to standard regulatory approval.
News: Chipmaker Broadcom sells remote-access unit to KKR in $4 billion deal