NEW YORK | Fri July 1, 2011 10 pm EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Web hosting company that the Go Daddy Group Inc. has agreed to be bought by a private equity consortium headed by KKR and Silver Lake 2.25 billion, including debt, people close to the situation said Friday.
The decision to sell will access Go Daddy to deep-pocketed donors to buy other companies and expand its presence on the international scene, founder of Go Daddy Bob Parsons told Reuters in an interview.
Parsons, said with the knowledge of buyers of private procurement capital would help finally to IPO the company take this way.
Private equity buyers also include Technology Crossover Ventures. Go Daddy announced the agreement, but did not disclose the terms.
Buyers were willing to finance the purchase with much of the fairness of the debt, Herald Chen, head of the software and the Internet of KKR effort told Reuters.
"There's more equity that debt enter the case because it is an expanding company and an investment for growth in the investment group, Chen said.
Parsons and the Board of Directors has decided to hire Qatalyst partners of Frank Quattrone in the summer of the year after receiving numerous calls of interest from parties seeking to buy the company.
"We talked to a number of companies and finally we met with the combination of KKR and Silver Lake and just absolutely was surprised that they brought to the table," Parsons said.
Since the foundation of the company in 1997, Parsons has seen Go Daddy grow in most large Web hosting provider worldwide, more than 9.3 million global customers and management of the domain names more of $ 48 million.
Go Daddy has more than 3 000 employees, with about 500 dedicated to product development.
"Based on the service exceptional customer of Go Daddy and faithful customers, we believe there is an important opportunity to enlarge the current portfolio of products and services and to accelerate the growth internationally," Chen said in a press release from the company Friday.
Go Daddy filed to go public in 2006, but at the time said that it would be necessary to take a hair cut by 50 percent — a percentage that is subtracted from the nominal value of property used as collateral - on its initial public offering.
The company instead decided to withdraw his deposit, citing the unfavourable conditions, Parsons, said.
"We have increased 22 percent during the recession and our growth has not slowed down", he said.
Parsons, who is currently Chief Executive Officer, will become Executive Chairman of Go Daddy, while the current President and CEO Warren Adelman will move into the role of General Manager, Parsons, said.
The agreement should close before the end of the year and requires regulatory approval in several provinces, including Europe and the United States, Tony Director Silver Lake Ling told Reuters.
Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and RBC capital markets acted as financial advisors and with KKR Capital Markets, they or their subsidiaries provided commitments of funding for the transaction.
(Editing by Carol bishopric and Yoko Nishikawa)
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