French energy technology group Schneider Electric has signed a definitive agreement to buy PTC, the Boston-based industrial design software company, for $22.6 billion (€20.1 billion) in cash. It would be the largest acquisition in Schneider’s history, but investors gave it a cool reception, and the company’s shares fell more than 9 percent in Paris trading on Monday morning.
Schneider will pay $205 for each PTC share, a 42.3 percent premium to the US company’s last closing price. Including debt, the transaction values PTC at $23.7 billion (€21.1 billion), and PTC’s board has backed the offer. To fund the purchase, Schneider expects to issue up to €17 billion in debt and up to €6 billion in new shares. It will also pause share buybacks in 2027 and 2028, then speed them up again to complete its existing €2.5 billion to €3.5 billion programme by the end of 2030.
The logic of the deal rests on industrial artificial intelligence. Schneider plans to pair PTC’s product and engineering data with its own software so that customers can design, manufacture, operate and maintain products more efficiently, using industrial data to guide their decisions. Chief executive Olivier Blum called the purchase an important step in the group’s ambition to lead what it describes as the new era of energy and industrial intelligence. PTC has more than 7,000 employees and over 30,000 customers, and it earned roughly half of its revenue in the Americas in its 2025 financial year.
The price reflects a difficult period for software stocks. Investors have worried that AI could undercut established software businesses by offering cheaper alternatives, and PTC’s valuation this year fell as low as 13.1 times its expected earnings for the next 12 months, according to MarketWatch, citing FactSet. Analysts at Jefferies, quoted by the publication, said those fears allowed Schneider to buy at a decade-low valuation but could keep weighing on its own shares. PTC chief executive Neil Barua said the tie-up would bring “substantial scale and resources to accelerate innovation”.
Schneider is targeting annual cost savings of €250 million by the third year after completion, together with about €800 million in additional revenue from combining the two businesses. The deal is expected to close by the third quarter of 2027. It still requires approval from holders of at least a majority of PTC’s outstanding shares, along with the necessary regulatory clearances.
