German software giant SAP in exclusive talks with Silicon Valley investor Silver Lake over offer.

Qualtrics investor Silver Lake is in exclusive talks with the Utah-based customer experience software giant in consideration of a $12.4 billion purchase offer.

The news was revealed in an SEC filing that became public Monday, offering details of Silver Lake’s bid, in partnership with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, to return Qualtrics to private ownership via an $18.15 per share cash offer.

Silver Lake participated in Qualtrics 2021 IPO and currently holds a stake in the company just shy of 4.2%. Silver Lake, based in Menlo Park, California, is a technology-focused investment firm that holds around $92 billion in assets and is also heavily invested in another Utah-based company, property management software developer Entrata.

German software giant SAP acquired Qualtrics in November 2018 when it inked a mammoth deal to acquire Utah-born customer experience innovator Qualtrics for $8 billion.

At the time, it stood as the highest valued acquisition ever for a venture-backed software company and, adding to the drama of the moment, the deal was announced just days before Qualtrics was scheduled to launch its own IPO.

Back in 2018, some market watchers criticized SAP for overpaying, noting Qualtrics pre-IPO valuation estimates were coming in at the $4.5 billion to $5 billion range.

But just two years later, that naysaying was rendered moot when SAP spun Qualtrics off in an IPO that raised $1.5 billion in fresh capital on a valuation north of $15 billion.

Qualtrics’ IPO redux in 2021 came just weeks after co-founder and current executive chairman Ryan Smith was announced as the new majority owner of the Utah Jazz after closing a deal rumored to be worth $1.6 billion.

Smith kept a stake in Qualtrics following the IPO, and is reportedly the biggest individual shareholder while SAP retained a majority interest in the company.

Read the rest of the story over at the Deseret News.