Ultimate Software Group Inc., a provider of cloud-based workforce management services that competes with the likes of Oracle Corp., has agreed to be taken private by an investor consortium for approximately $11 billion.

The company announced the deal this morning after it was unanimously approved by its board. The consortium orchestrating the acquisition is being led by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC and counts Blackstone Group LP, the world’s largest alternative investment manager, among its other participants.

Their $11 billion offer breaks down $331.50 per share. That’s 32 percent higher than Ultimate Software’s average trading price over the last 30 days and a 19 percent premium to its Friday close.

The price tag is a reflection of the company’s well-established market position. Founded in 1990, Ultimate Software offers an expansive suite of cloud services to help human resource departments run their day-to-day operations. It covers everything from recruitment to payroll management and includes an array of analytics tools for monitoring the state of a company’s workforce.

Earlier this year, Ultimate Software expanded its feature set by acquiring French startup PeopleDoc Inc. for $300 million. The startup developed a service that enables HR teams to manage all their documents in one place and automate related tasks.

Ultimate Software generated a total $287.8 million in revenue last quarter, up 22 percent from the previous year. It did so while maintaining a customer retention rate of 96 percent. This makes the company one of the fastest-growing players in the cloud-based HR market segment, where it competes with bigger names such as Oracle, SAP SE and Automatic Data Processing Inc., better known as ADP.

Ultimate Software’s soon-to-be new owners are intent on maintaining this momentum. As a result, the company will continue to operate under the current leadership team once the Hellman & Friedman-led group completes the acquisition.

The deal is expected to close in the middle of the year. Speaking to Bloomberg, Needham & Co. analyst Scott Berg speculated that Hellman & Friedman’s next step after the transaction completes might be to merge Ultimate Software with Kronos Inc., a cloud-based HR services provider it took private in 2007. Such a move would enable Ultimate Software to compete with the bigger players in this segment.

“This change will bring meaningful benefits to our employees and customers — both in the long and short terms,” Ultimate Software Chief Executive Scott Scherr said in a statement. “Today’s announcement will also allow us to make additional, prudent investments in our products and services to better serve our customers.”

Photo: Ultimate Software