Citrix Systems explores strategic alternatives including a sale

US networking software company Citrix Systems Inc has been exploring strategic alternatives including a potential sale, Bloomberg yesterday reported, citing anonymous sources.

Citrix, which has a market cap of $13.2 billion and has hired Goldman Sachs Group to assist it in the process, had earlier looked at selling itself in the past, before spinning-off and selling smaller business units, the report said.

Several private equity firms have recently considered buying Citrix but decided against it since a leveraged buyout would not be profitable, the report added.

But private equity firm Thoma Bravo is still interested in acquiring Citrix, Reuters said.

Other interested suitors could be computer maker Dell and Citrix' long-time partner Microsoft.

Dell and Microsoft have been working on the upcoming Windows 10 desktop on Azure.

New York-based hedge fund Elliott Management, which was recently given a seat on the board of Citrix, had earlier asked the company to explore options for its NetScaler, a part of its business that helps speed up Web-based applications.

Founded in 1989 by Ed Iacobucci, California-based Citrix is a multinational software company that provides server, application and desktop virtualization, networking, software as a service (SaaS), and cloud computing technologies.

It employs around 9,500 people and has annual income of more than $300 million.