Thoma Bravo may attract $200 mn from NPS, KTCU

National Pension Service (NPS), Korean Teachers’ Credit Union (KTCU) and other institutional investors of South Korea are likely to contribute to a $22 billion fund of US private equity firm Thoma Bravo LP, The Korea Economic Daily understood. NPS and KTCU will probably commit a combined $200 million to the fund, investment banking sources said on Feb. 16.

The fund is Thoma Bravo’s 15th flagship blind pool fund, aiming to close by June, the sources said.

NPS and KTCU each injected $100 million in Thoma Bravo’s 14th flagship fund, which closed at $17.8 billion in October 2020. KTCU also invested $100 million in the 13th flagship fund, which closed at $12.6 billion in January 2019. 

KTCU had achieved a 167% internal rate of return from investment through Thoma Bravo as of October 2020. The Korean teachers’ retirement fund injected $37.6 million via co-investment led by the US firm in 2018 to acquire cloud-based platform provider Ellie Mae. KTCU pocketed $153.8 million in 2020 when Thoma Bravo sold Ellie Mae to global securities exchange operator Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) for $11 billion. Through the divestiture, KTCU secured returns nearly four times its investment. 

NPS added Thoma Bravo to its overseas alternative investment managers in the fourth quarter of 2020, the world’s third-largest pension fund announced in February 2021. 

Thoma Bravo, managing $91 billion in assets, focuses on the software and technology businesses. It has acquired or invested in more than 350 companies representing a value of around $155 billion.  

“The US firm has recently raised its awareness in Korea, thanks to an investment boom for global tech companies,” said an industry source. “It is increasingly competitive to participate in Thoma Bravo’s funds, and some existing investors are even asked to cut back on their commitments due to the large pool of LPs in the funds,” the source added.

Write to Jun-ho Cha and Jong-woo Kim at chacha@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.