Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software Corp. said Tuesday it agreed to buy BakBone Software Inc., a San Diego-based maker of data protection software that’s traded on an over-the-counter exchange.
Quest is set to pay $55 million for BakBone in a deal that’s slated to close by the first quarter.
The boards of both companies have signed off on the deal.
BakBone makes software that helps companies protect sensitive data. Its technology allows them to backup, replicate and recover data in real time, the company said.
“Quest continues to innovate by delivering data protection solutions to address one of the key pain points facing every organization—the ever-expanding amount of data being created,” Chief Executive Doug Garn said. “Quest has a long and successful history of acquiring and building out technically strong products and development teams. BakBone meets these criteria. Our respective products are highly complementary, with minimal overlap.”
It’s tough to get a good read on BackBone’s size.
In the June quarter, the most recent data available, BakBone reported some $14 million in sales. It didn’t report profits and had been in red ink for some time.
It appears that Quest swooped in during a big transition at BakBone.
The company changed its business strategy early in the year and then in April saw a big management shakeup. BakBone went through three chief financial officers in the course of three years.
Quest makes software that manages and improves on other business applications by Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., IBM Corp. and others.
It’s a frequent acquirer of small software companies.
In the third quarter, Quest picked up Austin, Texas-based Surgient Inc. and Germany’s Völcker Informatik AG for undisclosed terms.
Quest is Orange County’s third-biggest software maker with some $700 million in yearly sales and had a recent market value of $2.4 billion.
