Investment firm to buy Limerick-based software company Kneat for €404m

Upon completion of the transaction, Kneat will become a privately held company.

Limerick-based software firm Kneat Solutions is set to be acquired by investment firm Thoma Bravo in a deal valued at CA$650m (€403.9m), the company has announced.

Kneat is an enterprise software firm that provides purpose-built digital validation platforms for use in highly regulated industries such as the life sciences.

Thoma Bravo is a software-focused investment firm, with more than $172bn in assets under management as of the end of March this year.

Under the terms of the takeover, holders of the outstanding shares of Kneat will receive CA$6.50 cash per share representing a premium of approximately 40% to the closing price of the shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Upon completion of the transaction, Kneat will become a privately held company.

Chief executive and co-founder of Kneat, Eddie Ryan, said they are “confident” Thoma Bravo will “help us accelerate our mission and our position as the leader in digital validation and quality process automation for life sciences at an exciting time for the industry”.

“As we begin to leverage our critical position in validation to enable customers to expand their use of our platform to adjacent areas, having the sector expertise, strategic alignment, and resources of Thoma Bravo behind us will be a powerful catalyst.” 

According to Kneat, the board unanimously approved the takeover agreement. It intends to hold a special meeting of shareholders by early August 2026, at which the transaction will be considered and voted on.

“Each of the directors and officers of the company who hold shares have agreed to vote their shares in favour of the transaction pursuant to voting and support agreements. The shares represented by the parties to the voting and support agreements represent approximately 21.9% of the outstanding shares,” the company said.

The takeover agreement also includes a break fee of CA$22.6m, to be paid by Kneat, should the deal not go through which is “only payable in customary and limited circumstances”.

Partner at Thoma Bravo, Adam Solomon, said: “We are confident we can apply our operational expertise and deep experience working with market-leading software companies to accelerate Kneat’s growth”.

Kneat was founded in Limerick in 2006 but became a Canadian company in 2015 in a reverse takeover which led it to being listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.