Private equity firm KKR has acquired Corel and virtualization specialist Parallels for roughly$1 billion, according to TechCrunch. The KKR-Corel deal could foreshadow a more aggressive Corel push into Apple Mac-oriented productivity, collaboration, creative and IT management applications, ChannelE2E believes.
KKR plans to invest heavily in Corel's existing product lines (WordPerfect, Corel Draw, WinZip, PaintShop Pro) while also making acquisitions, according to a deal memo viewed by TechCrunch.
Corel was founded in 1985 and initially gained prominence with Corel Draw, a graphics-related application and eventual suite. The company attempted to compete head-on against Microsoft Office starting in 1996. The strategy involved Corel acquiring WordPerfect and associated business productivity software from Novell. WordPerfect was once the leading word processing platform, but fell to niche status when Office for Windows 95 gained prominence.
Corel itself acquired Parallels in December 2018. Parallels is best known for its virtualization software that allows Microsoft Windows to run on Apple Mac devices. The Parallels product line includes:
Amid that lineup it's a safe bet KKR plans to double-down on Apple Mac-oriented customers in the business and consumer markets.
Numerous IT management software companies are thriving in the Apple market -- including established names such as Jamf and upstarts such as Addigy and Fleetsmith.
KKR has a solid reputation in the private equity market and in the technology sector. The company's enterprise IT-related holdings include:
A formal announcement about KKR acquiring Corel may arrive as soon as today, TechCrunch reports.
Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.
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