Exclusive: Thoma Bravo targets $2.5 bln for Fund XI

Thoma Bravo is marketing its flagship Fund XI, less than two years after closing its prior vehicle on $1.25 billion, according to three people with knowledge of the firm, sister news service peHUB reported.

Fund XI will target around $2.5 billion, the sources said. Thoma Bravo declined to comment.

The firm, led by a group of partners including Carl Thoma and Orlando Bravo, launched its prior fund with a $950 million target but beat that in roughly five months.

“In all humility, this was our easiest time raising money,” Thoma told Buyouts sister publication peHUB at the time.

Fund X was generating a 14.64 percent internal rate of return (IRR) as of March 31, 2013, according to performance information from the California State Teachers’ Retirement System. CalSTRS committed $100 million to the tenth fund.

Thoma Bravo has had a string of exits recently, including the December sale of Digital Insight for $1.65 billion to NCR Corp. Thoma Bravo bought Digital Insight, which provides banking software to financial institutions, for $1.025 billion just four months earlier, according to a peHUB report.

The firm also in December announced the sale of Network Instruments for $200 million in cash to JDS Uniphase Corp.

Earlier this week, Reuters reported Thoma Bravo is exploring the sale of network security company Blue Coat Systems Inc. The firm acquired Blue Coat in 2012 for $1.3 billion.

Thoma Bravo invests in enterprise and infrastructure software, financial and business services, as well as education. The firm will hit the fundraising trail just as another enterprise software specialist, Vista Equity Partners, is getting ready to market its next flagship fund. Vista will target $3.5 billion for its fifth fund, peHUB reported in November. 

Chris Witkowsky is editor of peHUB