Private equity firm Hellman & Friedman to acquire Applied Systems

Applied Systems, Inc. announced Tuesday that it has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired for about $1.8 billion by investment funds advised by Hellman & Friedman LLC (H&F).

The company is being acquired from the global private investment firm Bain Capital in a transaction valued at approximately $1.8 billion, notes a statement from Applied Systems, a provider of software that powers the business of insurance. Subject to customary conditions to closing, it is expected that the transaction will be completed in early 2014.

Applied Systems supports an extensive customer base of more than 12,000 agencies and brokerages and 350 insurers across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

JMI Equity, a private equity firm that focuses on building market-leading software and technology-enabled services businesses, will be investing alongside H&F. Under the terms of the agreement, members of Applied Systems’ senior management will continue to maintain a significant ownership position in the company, the statement adds.

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H&F, for its part, has extensive experience in the software and insurance industries through current and previous ownership of large-scale agencies, insurance carriers and software providers. 

“All of us at Applied are pleased to be partnering with H&F and JMI Equity as they share our commitment to revolutionize the global business of insurance by investing behind the company’s unique product vision for the benefit of our customers,” Reid French, CEO of Applied Systems, says in the statement.

“We believe Applied Systems is a uniquely positioned company in the global insurance software market,” notes David Tunnell, managing director of Hellman & Friedman. “It combines the largest user base in the industry with Applied Epic, the fastest-growing new agency management system, to be the market leader in insurance technology for deployments both on premise and in the cloud,” Tunnell continues.