Adobe to buy Magento Commerce for $1.68 billion

(Reuters) - Adobe Systems Inc said on Monday it would buy e-commerce services provider Magento Commerce from private equity firm Permira for $1.68 billion in cash, its biggest deal in nearly a decade.

Shares of Adobe rose about 1 percent in extended trading after the Photoshop maker also said it would buy back up to $8 billion of shares through its fiscal year 2021.

Adobe said the deal will help bolster its Experience Cloud business, which provides services including analytics, advertising and marketing.

"Adobe is the only company with leadership in content creation, marketing, advertising, analytics and now commerce - enabling real-time experiences across the entire customer journey," Brad Rencher, an executive vice president and general manager at Adobe, said in a statement.

Magento was acquired by Permira from eBay Inc in 2015 and counts Canon, Helly Hansen, Paul Smith and Rosetta Stone among its clients.

"Magento has grown its customer-base and enterprise cloud business as a result of key investments in technology, marketing, client success, sales management and the open-source community ecosystem," Phil Guinand, partner at Permira, said in a statement.

Magento also shares customers including Coca-Cola, Warner Music Group, Nestle and Cathay Pacific with Adobe, the company said.

The transaction is expected to close during Adobe's fiscal third quarter.

Qatalyst Partners acted as financial adviser to Permira, and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson acted as legal adviser.

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Leslie Adler)