Meetings and events management software provider Cvent is to be taken private yet again, as part of a $4.6 billion transaction involving two of the biggest players in the private equity sphere.
Today’s announcement continues a recent trend that has seen myriad companies retreating from the public markets, driven by opportunistic private equity firms toptechtrends.com/2022/12/05/investors-sound-the-alarm-about-possible-private-equity-tech-deals/”>looking to make a fast buck from nervous stockholders.
Dotcom survivor
Founded way back in 1999, Cvent could be described as something of a toptechtrends.com/2011/07/20/exclusive-dotcom-era-survivor-cvent-raises-136-million-round/”>Dotcom era survivor, raising bucketloads of venture capital cash ahead of a bumper IPO in 2013 that valued the company at around $1.5 billion on its opening day. Three years later, Vista Equity Partners swooped in with a $1.65 billion bid to take the company private, before returning to the public markets via a special purchase acquisition company (toptechtrends.com/2023/03/07/whos-to-blame-for-all-the-spac-implosions/”>SPAC) a little more than a year ago.
In the intervening months, Cvent’s market cap has generally been on the descendancy, falling from its opening peak of around $4.7 billion to an average of around $2.5 billion for much of 2022.
Now, Vista Equity Partners has said that it will be selling all its remaining shares in Nasdaq-listed Cvent to Blackstone, though a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) will also be a “significant minority investor.” Cvent said that it expects the deal to close in mid-2023, after which it will be a privately-listed company once more.
In the first half of 2022, private equity firms spent nearly $300 billion on such deals, some 39% higher than the corresponding period from the previous year, with toptechtrends.com/2022/12/12/how-many-tech-companies-can-private-equity-snap-up-while-valuations-are-in-the-gutter/”>signs these past few months suggesting a similar trajectory will continue. Just yesterday, experience management software company toptechtrends.com/2023/03/13/qualtrics-accepts-12-5b-all-cash-acquisition-offer-to-go-private/”>Qualtrics accepted a $12.5 billion all-cash offer from private equity firm Silver Lake and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), while news emerged in December that spend management software firm Coupa toptechtrends.com/2022/12/12/thoma-bravo-snags-coupa-for-8b-despite-activist-pressure-to-hold-off-for-higher-price/”>was set to go private in a $8 billion deal spearheaded by Thoma Bravo.
Indeed, Thoma Bravo closed a new toptechtrends.com/2022/12/12/thoma-bravo-snags-coupa-for-8b-despite-activist-pressure-to-hold-off-for-higher-price/”>$32 billion buyout fund in December, which was followed last week by Permira’s new $17.7 billion fund. Vista Equity Partners, meanwhile, is reportedly halfway toward raising a new $20 billion fund.
Terms of the Cvent deal will see its shareholders receive around $8.50 per share, representing a premium of around 52% on the volume-weighted average price (VWAP) in the three-month period leading to the end of January, when reports first surfaced that Cvent was the subject of a fresh acquisition bid.
toptechtrends.com/2023/03/14/cvent-to-go-private-again-in-4-6b-blackstone-deal/”>Cvent to go private again in $4.6B Blackstone deal by toptechtrends.com/author/paul-sawers/”>Paul Sawers originally published on toptechtrends.com/”>TechCrunch
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