Potential Citrix Systems Buyers: Bain, Carlyle, Thoma Bravo (Where’s Microsoft?)

Private equity firms Bain Capital, Carlyle Group LP and Thoma Bravo are among bidders for cloud-services company Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS), according to Bloomberg Technology. Curiously, Microsoft was not listed among the bidders, though the software giant has rumored interest in buying Citrix.

Citrix hired Goldman Sachs in Q1 2017 or so to pursue a potential company sale, according to multiple reports. The company’s market cap was about $13 billion when the rumors started in March. It now hovers at about $12.29 billion.

ChannelE2E has speculated about at least 10 different potential Citrix buyers, though we've always considered the leading candidates to include private equity firms and Microsoft.

Current Citrix Systems Bidders: Private Equity Firms

Now, according to Bloomberg, three PE firms -- Bain Capital, Carlyle Group LP and Thoma Bravo -- submitted bids for Citrix last week.

Citrix has spent more than a year sharpening its business focus. The company spun off and merged its GoTo assets with LogMeIn in mid-2016. By January 2017, the company emerged with a simplified cloud and mobile management game plan for partners.

From Wall Street to IT departments, plenty of eyeballs are tracking Citrix's ownership status. The scrutiny will surely intensify over the next few weeks. Indeed, the company is set to host a major customer conference -- called Citrix Synergy 2017 -- later this month in Orlando, Fla.