Citrix sold to private equity firms Vista and Elliot for $16.5 billion
Citrix finds a buyer at last
Elliott Associates and Vista Equity Partners have agreed to buy Citrix for $16.5 billion.
The two private equity firms plan to merge Citrix, which is headquartered in Florida and employs 9,000 people worldwide, with Tibco, the enterprise data management firm that Vista acquired in 2014 for $4.3 billion. The combined company will have 400,000 customers, including 98 percent of the Fortune 500, with 100 million users in 100 countries.
The move has been anticipated by the markets for some time. Elliot first invested in Citrix 6 years ago and had a seat on the board until 2020, after which the companies share price rose in anticipation of a buyout before sinking back again in recent months.
Elliot and Vista will pay $104 per share in cash, valuing Citrix at $16.5 billion (including $3.5 billion of assumed debt).
Citrix, which was founded in 1989, was among the first purveyors of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) software. But in recent years as web applications have become the norm it has struggled, even as the pandemic boosted the appetite for remote working software. While the acquisition requires the approval of Citrix shareholders, it is expected they will vote in favour.
The deal was unanimously approved by Citrix's board.
"Over the past three decades, Citrix has established itself as the clear leader in secure hybrid work. Our market-leading platform provides secure and reliable access to all of the applications and information employees need to get work done, wherever it needs to get done," said Bob Calderoni, chair of the Citrix board of directors and interim CEO and president, who added that today's announcement was the culmination of five months of discussions.
Calderoni continued: "By combining with Tibco, we will expand this platform and the outcomes our customers achieve. Together with Tibco, we will be able to operate with greater scale and provide a larger customer base with a broader range of solutions to accelerate their digital transformations and enable them to deliver the future of hybrid work. As a private company, we will have increased financial and strategic flexibility to invest in high-growth opportunities, such as DaaS, and accelerate its ongoing cloud transition."
Tibco CEO Dan Streetman said: "The workplace has changed forever, and companies everywhere will require real-time access to faster, smarter insights from the increasingly large volumes of data available to them, their employees, and their ecosystems. I couldn't be more excited about our combined vision and look forward to a strong partnership."
The last time Vista tried to purchase a company to combine with Tibco was last year, when it made an offer for UK RPA firm Blue Prism. However, that bid was rejected by the company's shareholders who said it undervalued Blue Prism. They eventually accepted an alternative offer from fintech firm SS&C.
Citrix previously tried to find a buyer in 2017. Although some private equity firms, including Thoma Bravo and Bain Capital, showed interest in buying it, discussions eventually stalled over valuation.