IPO: Next Stage In Softchoice’s Evolution
Softchoice just went public in a quiet way. The Toronto-based cloud and software giant and software sales pioneer, ranked No. 32 on the CRN 2021 Solution Provider 500 list, started trading under the symbol “SFTC” on Friday on an “if, as and when issued” basis, and on Tuesday completed the IPO. However, due to COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic restrictions, it had to pass on the normal in-person ringing of the iconic bell to open the Toronto Stock Exchange, leaving CEO Vince De Palma (pictured) instead participating in a virtual ringing of the bell.
That did not lessen the importance of the IPO, however. Softchoice and primary investor Birch Hill Equity sold 17.5 million common shares for gross proceeds of C$350 million, or about $249 million, with Softchoice selling 4.375 million shares and Birch Hill 12.135 million shares.
More importantly, the IPO brings Softchoice into the spotlight at a time when its cloud-focused services and software capabilities are in high demand as businesses invest heavily in digital transformation. De Palma told CRN that investment was well under way before the pandemic started and the pandemic only accelerated the push. “We’ve seen demand come back and companies returning to their digital transformation journey, and they are continuing to be hyper-focused on, ‘How do I leverage the cloud to become more agile and innovative? How do I get the bang for the buck in the money I’m spending on collaboration technology in terms of improving the customer’s employee experience as well as improving employee productivity?’” he said.
Here is what De Palma had to say about Softchoice’s plans for 2021, the importance of digital transformation and more. 1 23… 9NextRELATED TOPICS:
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