By Sabrina Valle
Oct 4 (Reuters) - France's Schneider Electric is nearing a deal to buy US software group PTC for about $20 billion, according to a person close to the deal on Sunday.
A deal may be announced as soon as Monday, the person said, adding that discussions between the two companies were ongoing and there was no certainty they would result in a deal.
Schneider Electric and PTC did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment outside regular business hours. The Financial Times first
reported the news.
Boston-based PTC has a market value of $15.63 billion, according to LSEG data.
The deal would deepen the French engineering company's push into software acquisitions, having agreed to acquire Cognite Holding in June, a privately held provider of AI software and industrial data.
Schneider, once known primarily for industrial components like fuses and circuit breakers, now builds the backbone of data centres, supplying everything from cooling units and server racks to critical power distribution equipment.
The booming demand for data centres, particularly from the United States, is driving Schneider's earnings, offering a growing source of revenue helping offset weakness in some traditional electrical-equipment markets.
PTC, which provides software solutions for designing, manufacturing and servicing products across multiple sectors, has also benefited from growing demand for its AI-powered tools.
In July, Schneider Electric lifted its annual revenue forecast after reporting record first-half results, betting on strong demand for its core industrial software and artificial intelligence-powered tools.
(Reporting by Sabrina Valle in New York and Harishankar Manoj in Bengaluru; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Nick Zieminski)
