SUSE, the world’s largest independent open source company, has entered into definitive agreements to acquire Rancher Labs. Based in Cupertino, California, Rancher is a privately held open source company, providing a market leading Kubernetes Management platform. Rancher Labs delivers open source software that enables organizations to deploy and manage Kubernetes at scale, on any infrastructure across the data center, cloud, branch offices, and the network edge. With 37,000 active users and greater than 100 million downloads, their flagship product, Rancher, is a leading Kubernetes management platform.
SUSE, a leader in Enterprise Linux, Edge Computing and AI, and Rancher, a leader in Kubernetes Container Management, will deliver computing everywhere with the latest AI and seamless deployment of containerized workloads from the edge to the core to the cloud.
The acquisition of Rancher is the first step in SUSE’s inorganic growth strategy since its acquisition by EQT VIII SCSp from MicroFocus in March 2019. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals, and expected to complete in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Milbank previously advised EQT on the acquisition of SUSE from MicroFocus.
A Milbank team led by Deborah Conrad and Steffen Oppenlaender advised SUSE on the acquisition.
Advisor to SUSE: Milbank LLP
Deborah Conrad (Corporate/M&A, Los Angeles); Steffen Oppenlaender (Corporate/M&A, Munich – co-lead); Gary Frischling (IP, Los Angeles); Joel Harrison (IP, London); Mike Shah (Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits, New York); Alexander Rinne (Antitrust, Munich); Fiona Schaeffer (Antitrust, New York); Max Goodman (Tax, Los Angeles); Nathaniel Browand (IP, New York); Natalie Chitayat (Corporate/M&A, Los Angeles), Anna Hunanyan (Corporate/M&A, Los Angeles); Fritz Schuchmann (Corporate/M&A, Munich); Daniel Roggenkemper (Corporate/M&A, Munich); James Beebe (Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits, New York); Jon Sorger (Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits, New York); Andrew Wellin (Antitrust, New York); Alexander Zyrewitz (Antitrust, Munich).
SUSE inhouse:
Felix Imendoerffer (General Counsel), Matthew Hall (Senior Corporate Counsel)
