Nice says Actimize sale process remains ongoing, offers no update on reported $2 billion Brookfield deal
CEO Scott Russell said the company continues to work with advisers on the sale of its non-CX assets. The comments come after reports that Brookfield entered exclusive negotiations to acquire the financial-crime software business for approximately $2 billion.
Nice is continuing to explore a sale of its non-core businesses, including Actimize, but has provided no new details on the process or the reported negotiations with Brookfield, which was said to have secured exclusivity in talks to acquire the financial-crime and compliance division for approximately $2 billion.
Speaking during Nice’s third-quarter earnings call, CEO Scott Russell said the company was still working with advisers on the sale of its non-CX assets, without indicating whether negotiations with Brookfield had advanced or whether a transaction was close to being signed.
“Before passing it to Beth, I want to comment briefly on our previously announced exploration of alternatives for our non-CX assets,” Russell said. “We continue to work with advisors and do not have a further update at this time.”
The comments are the first public indication from Nice’s management since a September report by Sky News, which said Brookfield’s financial infrastructure arm had entered exclusive negotiations to buy Actimize for around $2 billion. The report cautioned that a deal had not been finalized and could still fall apart. Nice did not identify Brookfield or confirm the reported terms during the earnings call.
The sale process began in late 2025, when Nice hired Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan to find a buyer for Actimize, as first reported by Calcalist. The company was initially seeking between $1.5 billion and $2 billion for the division, which develops software used by banks and other financial institutions to detect fraud and money laundering and meet regulatory requirements.
In May, CTech reported that five bidders had advanced to the second stage of the auction: Advent International, Veritas Capital, New Mountain Capital, Stone Point Capital and strategic investor SymphonyAI. The offers were reported to be around $2.5 billion, although the process had yet to produce a transaction. Brookfield subsequently emerged as the reported preferred buyer.
Nice acquired Actimize in 2007 for $280 million. It has since become one of the company's most significant businesses. In 2024, Actimize generated $453.5 million in revenue, representing approximately 16.6% of NICE’s total, and $158.3 million in operating profit, or nearly 29% of the company's operating profit. A sale for approximately $2 billion would therefore represent a substantial return on the original investment, while removing a major contributor to Nice’s earnings.
The latest results also underscore the financial trade-off Nice would be making. Its financial crime and compliance business continues to grow, even as the company seeks to reposition itself around cloud-based customer experience software and artificial intelligence.
The segment generated $135 million in third-quarter revenue, up 13% from a year earlier. Nice attributed the increase to continued demand for its on-premise products and services, with some customers choosing to renew existing Actimize deployments rather than migrate to the cloud as quickly as the company had expected.
CFO Beth Gaspich said that financial crime and compliance cloud migrations were progressing more slowly than anticipated, with customers opting to renew their on-premise systems. She described the continued product demand as a healthy trend, but one that differed from the company's expectations for the pace of its cloud transition.
That resilience makes Actimize a valuable asset to a potential buyer, but also means a sale would leave Nice with a less profitable business mix. The division has been viewed as outside the company's strategic focus as it invests in AI-powered customer service platforms, including following its approximately $1 billion acquisition of German AI company Cognigy.
