Business software purveyor AppDynamics may have postponed its plans to go public, but technology services firm Presidio is forging ahead with an IPO, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.
Interestingly, Optiv, another IT service provider focusing on security, also filed for an initial public offering recently. Optiv, which evolved out of last year’s merger between Accuvant and FishNet, seeks $100 million.
While the Presidio filing did not specify the per-share price, The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, said the offering could be worth as much as $3 billion.
New York-based Presidio was acquired by Apollo Global Management nearly two years ago for an undisclosed sum and reports of a proposed public-market debut surfaced last summer.
Presidio is in the business of selling and installing often complex technologies for business customers. Its rivals include traditional technology resellers and systems integrators such as Accenture (ACN), Dimension Data, and Computer Science Corp. (CSC). It’s also up against the services arms of big technology vendors such as IBM (IBM) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). And, as noted in Presidio’s filing, many big tech companies including Dell Technologies, HPE, and Apple often sell directly to big corporate accounts.
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Making Presidio’s future outlook even more complicated is the notion that big public cloud service providers—Amazon (AMZN) Web Services, Microsoft (MSFT), and Google @goog(GOOG)—are sucking up more of the computing workloads that used to run in corporate data centers. Those big cloud providers typically source their networking gear and computer servers directly, as well.
Nonetheless, in its filing, Presidio reported 14% year-over-year sales growth to $2.71 billion and a net loss of $3.4 million for its fiscal year ending June 30.
On an adjusted basis, the company said its net income was $81.2 million, with earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortization were $211.1 million.
The company claims 7,000 customers spread across mid-market, big business, and government sectors.
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Presidio specializes in computer networking, cybersecurity, collaboration technologies (such as videoconferencing gear), mobile services, and data analytics. It also sells services that knit together company-owned data centers with public cloud infrastructure, and security.
Martin Wolf, founder of martinwolf M&A Advisors, which follows “channel” companies that resell and implement tech products, said the fact that both Optiv and Presidio are making moves to go public shows is worth noting.
“When was the last time you saw a channel company going public? I was in high school. These deals show that something is going on,” he told Coins2Day.
Note: This story was updated to add Presidio’s net income.