Intuit Finds a Buyer for Quicken--Update

By Lisa Beilfuss 

Intuit Inc. said Friday it would sell its Quicken segment to private-equity firm HIG Capital for an undisclosed amount, about six months after the maker of TurboTax said it was looking to pare down.

In a blog post, Eric Dunn, head of Quicken, said "Quicken will thrive with increased investment" and that he will remain involved after the transaction is completed. Miami-based HIG has $19 billion in capital under management, according to its website.

Intuit didn't offer a deal price for the personal-finance business. Diane Carlini, a spokeswoman for the company, said Intuit expects to close the deal in April and indicated that Mr. Dunn has made an investment and will lead the new business.

The divestiture comes after Intuit last summer flagged several business units for sale, including collaboration platform QuickBase and communications software business Demandforce in addition to Quicken, in a move to focus on its core small-business and tax-preparation businesses.

Demandforce was sold to Internet Brands in February, and Intuit continues to shop QuickBase. The spokeswoman said Friday that the sales of the three units would together result in proceeds of about $500 million and that Intuit expects to have an update on QuickBase in the coming weeks.

"With these sales soon completed, Intuit will focus on accelerating our momentum," Ms. Carlini said.

In its most recent fiscal year, Intuit brought in $51 million in revenue from Quicken and swung to a loss in the segment. The company reported $4.2 billion in overall revenue in fiscal 2015 and earned $365 million, down from $4.51 billion in sales and $897 million in profit a year earlier.

Shares in the company rose 0.8% in afternoon trading, pulling the stock's year-to-date gain up to 2%.

Write to Lisa Beilfuss at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 04, 2016 13:50 ET (18:50 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.