(Reuters) -Salesforce ( CRM ) said on Tuesday it would buy Informatica ( INFA ) for about $8 billion, betting on the data management platform to sharpen its competitive edge in the booming artificial intelligence market. The cloud-software giant is returning to big-ticket M&A after years on the sidelines, driven by scrutiny from activist investors pressing for better profitability.

It had last year shelved deal talks with Informatica ( INFA ) after the companies failed to agree on deal terms. Buying Informatica ( INFA ), in its biggest deal since its nearly $28 billion acquisition of Slack Technologies in 2021, would help Salesforce ( CRM ) expand its data management tools as it doubles down on artificial intelligence-powered products. The Informatica ( INFA ) deal would allow Salesforce ( CRM ) to tighten control over how business data is managed and used, an essential step as it races to embed generative AI deeper into its products. The company has been offering AI agents - programs that can handle routine work without human supervision - to businesses for tasks such as recruiting and customer service on its platform and in its messaging app Slack.

It has closed more than 1,000 paid deals for "Agentforce", the company's platform for creating virtual representatives powered by AI, it said in December. The deal could face antitrust scrutiny as Salesforce's ( CRM ) MuleSoft, which helps companies connect apps and data, operates in overlapping areas with Informatica ( INFA ). Salesforce ( CRM ) is paying $25 for each share of Informatica ( INFA ), a premium of about 30% to Informatica's ( INFA ) closing price on May 22, the day before news of renewed talks emerged. The business software company has been a prolific dealmaker, buying data analytics firm Tableau Software in 2019 for $15.7 billion in stock, and Slack Technologies in 2021 in its biggest deal. Those deals drew scrutiny in 2023 when activist investors, including ValueAct Capital and Elliott Management, questioned Salesforce's ( CRM ) strategy and pressed for changes to improve profitability.

In response, the company had disbanded its mergers and acquisitions board committee and cut jobs.

(Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)