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Goldman Sachs-Led Direct Lending Group Provides $3.5B Debt Financing to Back Permira, Warburg Pincus’ $8.4B Clearwater Analytics Take-Private; Pricing at SOFR+450 Bps
Goldman Sachs’ private credit arm is leading a $3.525 billion debt financing package to back Permira and Warburg Pincus’ take-private acquisition of investment and accounting software provider Clearwater Analytics, according to sources.
Apollo, Ares, Blue Owl and Antares are in the mix of lenders providing the debt package, sources said, adding that pricing is about SOFR+450 bps with 99.5 OID.
Permira and Warburg Pincus agreed to take Clearwater Analytics private for about $8.4 billion, including debt, according to an announcement on Dec. 21.
The deal includes the participation of several minority investors, including Francisco Partners and Temasek. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026.
After the announcement, Moody’s Ratings said that Clearwater Analytics’ planned leveraged buyout is credit negative for the pro forma borrower entity and that the existing company’s ratings, including its B1 corporate family rating, B1-PD probability of default rating and B1 rating on its backed senior secured bank credit facility, as well as the stable outlook, remain unchanged.
Based in Boise, Idaho, Clearwater Analytics provides cloud-based investment management platforms for insurance companies, asset managers and hedge funds, among others.
Permira, along with Warburg Pincus and other investors, first invested in Clearwater Analytics in 2020 and helped take the company public one year later.
Blue Owl Capital Corp., Nuveen Churchill Private Capital Income Fund and Steele Creek Capital Corp. were listed as business development company lenders to Clearwater Analytics as of Sept. 30, 2025, according to Octus’ BDC Database. They hold the company’s first lien term loans due 2032, which are priced at SOFR+225 bps and SOFR+275 bps, respectively.
Average pricing of senior direct facilities to back M&A buyouts in the information technology sector was about SOFR+486 bps in the fourth quarter of 2025, down from about SOFR+493 bps in the previous quarter, according to Octus’ Private Credit Dashboard.
Elsewhere in the technology sector, an Apollo-led group of investors is in advanced talks to buy a stake in analytics company AppsFlyer for approximately $2 billion, Octus reported in January.
Recent deal activity in the industry includes Hg’s take-private acquisition of finance software developer OneStream for $6.4 billion, backed by a roughly $1.6 billion loan package provided by private lenders, Octus reported.
PJT Partners and Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP are advising the special committee of Clearwater’s board as financial and legal advisors, respectively, the press release said. JPMorgan is acting as financial advisor to Clearwater, alongside legal counsel Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
Goldman Sachs is the financial advisor to the investor group. Latham and Watkins LLP serves as the M&A counsel, and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP is the finance counsel to the investor group.
Permira, Warburg Pincus, Goldman Sachs, Apollo and Ares declined to comment. Clearwater Analytics, Blue Owl and Antares did not return requests for comment.
Disclosure: Funds associated with Permira hold a majority interest in the parent company of Octus.
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