Schneider Electric Nears $20B PTC Acquisition

Schneider Electric is nearing a more than $20 billion acquisition of U.S. engineering software maker PTC, the largest deal in Schneider's history. An announcement could come as soon as Monday. PTC's market capitalization is $15.5 billion. The deal would add PTC's product design and lifecycle-management software to Schneider's energy-management and industrial-automation offerings, supporting a strategy of pairing software with hardware platforms. GuruFocus puts PTC at $144.03 versus a GF Value of $214.99 (33.0 percent undervalued) with a GF Score of 91, and Schneider Electric at $68.40 versus a GF Value of $59.15 (15.6 percent overvalued), a $192.35 billion market cap and GF Score of 89. Schneider issued 6.4 billion euros in debt over three years. Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the discussions, reported Schneider is nearing the deal for more than $20 billion. The Financial Times reported advanced talks for about $20 billion. Seeking Alpha editor Rob Williams attributed the account to Bloomberg. Those reports differ only on stage wording and the precise $20 billion phrasing. Whether and when a final agreement is announced remains unresolved.