03/17/2005
Multi-Channel Holdings Downs Blue Martini for $54M
By Brenda Sandburg
With a martini glass logo and a catchy name, Blue Martini Software Inc. has made a splash at retail department stores with its sales-boosting software. Now it's got the attention of an investment firm with a thirst for software companies.
Multi-Channel Holdings Inc., one of Golden Gate Capital's portfolio companies, has agreed to buy Blue Martini in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $54 million.
For Cooley Godward partner Eric Jensen, the deal represents the final stage in the evolution of Blue Martini, which he took public in July 2000.
"It marks the end of the ups and downs of the dot-com era in a way," Jensen said.
Blue Martini makes software that helps salespeople interact with customers to sell more products. More than 160 companies use its software, including Harley-Davidson, Harrah's Entertainment, Kohl's, Mitsubishi, Panasonic and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Golden Gate, a San Francisco private equity investment firm that manages approximately $2.6 billion of capital, is the lead investor in Multi-Channel Holdings. In the past four years Golden Gate has acquired 25 software companies.
Lawyers in Kirkland & Ellis' San Francisco office have represented Golden Gate in a string of recent acquisitions.
"The negotiations that went into the Blue Martini deal were quite typical," said Kirkland & Ellis partner Stephen Oetgen. But he and his colleagues paid tribute to the company's history when the papers were signed.
"We celebrated with the appropriate cocktail," Oetgen said. A martini, of course.
The Kirkland team also included lead partner Jeffrey Hammes, partner Jeffrey Golden and associate Jeremy Veit.
The Cooley crew representing Blue Martini included partners David Lipkin, Robert "Buff" Miller, Eric Reifschneider, associates Jennifer Fonner DiNucci and Shawn Conway and special counsel Francis Fryscak. Blue Martini General Counsel Lara Williams also assisted on the deal.
This article republished with permission from law.com. © 2005