CRM Salesforce Inc

By Austen Hufford 

Salesforce.com Inc. is buying MuleSoft Inc. in a deal valuing the firm at $6.5 billion as Salesforce continues its efforts to expand service offerings beyond customer-relationship management software.

MuleSoft helps companies update their legacy applications and move them to the cloud, which lets companies better access their internal data. MuleSoft has more than 1,200 customers, including Coca-Cola and Unilever, and has seen double-digit revenue growth in recent years.

"Salesforce and MuleSoft will accelerate our customers' digital transformations enabling them to unlock their data across any application," MuleSoft Chief Executive Greg Schott said in prepared remarks.

Salesforce reached a deal to buy MuleSoft for about $44.89 a share, composed of $36 in cash and 0.0711 shares of Salesforce stock. The deal is a 36% premium over MuleSoft's closing share price Monday.

Reuters reported earlier on Tuesday about deal talks, and shares in MuleSoft rose 27% during the trading day. Shares gained 4.4% to $43.85 in post-market trading after the deal was announced.

Shares of Salesforce, which rose 0.1% during Tuesday trading, fell 2.3% to $122.20 after hours.

Stockholders of MuleSoft owning about 30% of its shares have already agreed to support the deal, Salesforce said. The purchase is expected to close in Salesforce's fiscal second quarter, which ends July 31.

Salesforce said it would fund the transaction with both cash on hand and about $3 billion from loans and debt.

Write to Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 20, 2018 17:57 ET (21:57 GMT)

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