Abstract:
The acquisition would be the French conglomerate's largest ever and bolster its product capabilities for manufacturers. Schneider Electric is close to acquiring U.S. engineering software provider PTC for about $20 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, which would be the French industrial group's largest ever acquisition.
Informed sources said that the two sides may announce an agreement as soon as Monday, but negotiations between the two companies are still ongoing and it is not yet certain that a deal will eventually be reached.
The potential deal would enhance Schneider's capabilities in software solutions that help manufacturers design industrial products and develop engineering specifications.
U.S.-listed PTC currently has a market capitalization of $15.5 billion, meaning the expected deal would value the company at a considerable premium to its closing share price on Friday. Since 2026, PTC stock price has fallen 15.3%.
Schneider, which focuses on energy management and industrial automation, has seen its share price rise by 28% this year. Its current market value reaches 175 billion euros, making it the third largest listed company in France.
PTC was founded in Boston in 1985. In 2026, the American group expects revenue to top out at $2.75 billion.
The scale of the acquisition of PTC will far exceed Schneider’s $11 billion acquisition of British listed company Aveva in 2023. The latter helped the French group expand its footprint in industrial software for the first time.
PTC's software products, including design software Creo, will complement Schneider's capabilities acquired through the acquisition of Aveva. These products provide software that can be used to help design manufacturing plants and engineering processes.
Schneider’s potential acquisition of PTC would be a rare large-scale software transaction amid the current significant slowdown in transactions in the software industry. M&A activity in the sector has cooled significantly as companies grapple with the impact of artificial intelligence on their business models.
This expected transaction will also rank among the largest cross-border transactions in 2026. In the three months to the end of September, only 10 mega-deals worth more than $10 billion were concluded globally.
Neither Schneider nor PTC immediately responded to requests for comment.
Schneider CEO Olivier Blum, who took office less than two years ago, told investors last year that the company would actively seek acquisition opportunities, especially software-focused transactions that could complement its industrial automation business.
In June this year, Schneider reached a deal to acquire Cognite, an industrial data and artificial intelligence provider, for US$3.1 billion. Last month, Schneider announced that it would pay $1.4 billion to acquire Bulgarian technology company Shelly Group, which produces smart home devices.
Schneider provides energy and technology services to chipmakers such as Nvidia and is also one of the beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence data center boom. Currently, data center-related services account for about a quarter of Schneider's sales.
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