Blackstone-led consortium takes control of Medallia as Thoma Bravo absorbs $5bn loss

A consortium led by Blackstone, alongside Apollo and KKR, has agreed to take control of customer-experience software group Medallia from Thoma Bravo.

The transaction, announced on Wednesday, cements one of the largest equity wipeouts in the history of the $4tn private equity industry.

Under the terms of the deal, Thoma Bravo will lose the entire $5bn it invested when it took Medallia private in 2021.

The Blackstone-led group will assume control of the business and inject $150m of fresh capital to reduce its debt load. All three lenders had financed the company heavily, so its deterioration had become a direct concern for them well before the handover.