Citrix clears regulatory hurdles for Tibco merger
The deal is anticipated to complete in the last week of September 2022
Citrix has obtained all necessary regulatory clearances for its proposed merger with Tibco, and the transaction may now go forward.
The company said in a filing submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday that 'the condition to closing the merger in respect of clearances under antitrust and foreign investment laws has been satisfied.'
Citrix anticipates the transaction will complete in the last week of September 2022, pending the fulfilment of the remaining customary closing conditions.
Private equity firms Vista Equity Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital (a subsidiary of Elliott Investment Management) reached an agreement to acquire Citrix for $16.5 billion in January, which Citrix shareholders voted to approve in April.
The buyers also announced their intention to merge Citrix with Tibco Software, another of Vista's portfolio companies.
After the transaction is complete, Citrix will become a private business and its shares will no longer trade on the Nasdaq exchange.
The combined company will have 400,000 clients, including 98% of the Fortune 500, and 100 million users across 100 countries.
Tom Krause - who most recently served as CFO and then president of the Broadcom Software Group - will take the job of CEO of the merged company. Until the merge is complete, Bob Calderoni will continue to operate as Citrix's interim CEO and president.
Headquartered in Florida, Citrix was established in 1989 and specialises in virtual desktops and application publication. The company has a workforce of around 9,000.
Citrix has struggled in recent years as online apps became the norm, even as the pandemic increased demand for remote working software.
Elliot made its first investment in Citrix six years ago, and had a seat on the board until 2020, after which the company's stock price increased in anticipation of a takeover.
Citrix previously attempted to sell itself in 2017 when it recruited Goldman Sachs to look into prospective bidders. Though several private equity companies, including Thoma Bravo and Bain Capital, expressed an interest, negotiations ultimately came to a standstill over price.
Vista purchased Tibco, which specialises in service-oriented architectures, in 2014 for $4.3 billion.
In 2021, Vista approached UK RPA firm Blue Prism in an effort to acquire a firm to merge with Tibco. Blue Prism's stockholders, however, rejected that offer as they believed it undervalued the company. They ultimately decided to accept a different offer from fintech business SS&C.
In a January letter to Citrix staff, CEO Calderoni described the merger as creating "one of the world's largest software companies [with] the potential to provide customers with all the secure infrastructure needed for the modern enterprise.
"With the increased scale that comes with the combination, we expect to grow our wallet share with the CIO organization, making us a more strategic technology provider to organisations across the globe."