What's going on?

Private equity (PE) company Thoma Bravo announced on Monday that it�s agreed to buy SailPoint, after realizing it was crazy to have ever parted ways with the cybersecurity firm.

What does this mean?

Thoma Bravo first bought into SailPoint � which provides secure remote working software and cloud computing protection � back in 2014, before sprucing it up, listing it on the US stock market three years later, and pocketing a profit. But with remote working now part of the furniture and the war in Ukraine driving a spate of cyberattacks, Thoma Bravo has decided it wants SailPoint back for good: the PE giant announced on Monday that it had agreed to buy the company in a deal worth $6.9 billion � over 30% more than SailPoint was worth before the deal was announced (tweet this).

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: PE firms go hard on software.
This marks Thoma Bravo�s sixth security-focused investment, and follows its $12.3 billion purchase of cybersecurity firm Proofpoint last year. But this deal also reflects the wider trend of PE firms buying into software companies: Brookfield, for instance, agreed to buy car dealership software provider CDK Global for $6.4 billion last week, while Elliott Management and Vista Equity Partners bought software giant Citrix for $17 billion earlier this year. They�re going cheap, after all: an index tracking some of the biggest business software companies has fallen more than twice as much as the wider US stock market this year.

Zooming out: SoftBank finds a diamond in the rough.
SoftBank�s been busy too: its Vision fund led a $185 million investment round in Pax8 on Monday � a move that values the cloud startup at $1.7 billion. SoftBank said it�s confident that the company � which helps small businesses manage cloud services � has the potential for long-term growth in a seriously competitive industry.