Compuware sold to private equity firm, is likely to stay in Detroit
Detroit-based Compuware said that it plans to sell itself to a private-equity firm for $2.5 billion and once again become a privately held company. The deal is with Thoma Bravo, a firm with offices in Chicago and San Francisco that focuses on software and tech companies. Although future layoffs are possible, Compuware’s current management will remain in place, and Compuware CEO Bob Paul said he doesn’t think the company will leave Detroit under the new ownership. Experts say that by taking Compuware private, the private equity firm could be in a better position for making changes that could eventually position the company for growth, several years in the future, an opportunity to take Compuware public again. "In public, you have to show quarter-to-quarter ‘what have you done for me lately,’" said Sudip Datta, T. Norris Hitchman Endowed Chair and interim chair of the Department of Finance at Wayne State University School of Business Administration. "If you’re out of public scrutiny, then you can do long-term investment that may not bear fruit in the short term."
