Chipmaker Broadcom sells remote-access unit to KKR in $4 billion deal

 Chipmaker Broadcom is selling its unit that allows users to access desktops and applications from any device to private-equity firm KKR  in a deal valued at about $4 billion, as part of its efforts to simplify its business after VMware’s acquisition last year for a whopping $69 billion.

The end-user computing (EUC) unit will become a standalone company and will continue to be run by its existing management team led by Shankar Iyer, KKR said in a statement on Monday.

Shares of both Broadcom and KKR were up nearly 1% in early trading.

Reuters first reported the deal on Saturday, citing sources who said KKR prevailed in the auction for the EUC unit over other private equity firms including EQT 

The VMware deal, which faced several regulatory hurdles, was among the biggest globally when it was announced in May 2022. Broadcom closed the acquisition more than a year later, in November 2023, after receiving regulatory approval in major market China.

Broadcom had first said in December it would seek to divest its end-user computing unit. It is now also attempting to shed VMware’s security software business, Carbon Black.

The EUC deal marks the latest KKR acquisitions in the technology sector in recent years.

In 2018, it purchased U.S. business software company BMC for $8.5 billion, and two years later, it combined BMC with Compuware, a company it acquired from buyout firm Thoma Bravo.

In 2021, KKR acquired information services technology provider Ensono from private equity firms Charlesbank Capital Partners and M/C Partners for about $1.7 billion.

Evercore, Deutsche Bank and Jefferies are advising KKR on the Broadcom deal, while Citigroup is advising Broadcom. The transaction is expected to close in 2024.

Source : Reuters