NEC Said to Near Purchase of Avaloq From Founder, Warburg Pincus

(Bloomberg) -- NEC Corp. is near a deal to buy Swiss banking software provider Avaloq Group AG in a transaction that values the firm at about 2 billion francs ($2.2 billion) in one of the biggest fintech deals this year, according to people familiar with the matter.

Warburg Pincus owns about a 45% stake and the remainder is held by Avaloq Chairman Francisco Fernandez and employees. The buyout firm acquired an initial 35% holding in 2017 and has been exploring a potential sale since last year, Bloomberg News has reported.

Avaloq provides banking software, particularly to private institutions looking to underpin their digital and wealth management platforms. Customers include Deutsche Bank AG and Barclays Plc, which is advising on the deal with Goldman Sachs Group Inc., according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.

Representatives for Warburg Pincus and Avaloq declined to comment, while NEC wasn’t immediately available to comment.

Technology dealmaking has held up relatively well amid the coronavirus downturn, with more than $120 billion of transactions announced in Europe since the start of the year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. If the Avaloq sale is completed, it would mark Warburg Pincus’s fifth major tech transaction in Europe since July.

The company’s technology is used to manage about 4.5 trillion francs of client assets, according to its website. Warburg Pincus’s investment in Avaloq over three years ago valued the business at more than 1 billion francs, it said at the time.

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