More IT consolidation is underway to accommodate a growing demand from businesses for “one-stop shops” that can handle a wide range of needs in our hybrid workplace. Private equity companies Vista Equity Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital (a subsidiary of Elliott Investment Management) are buying Citrix, the venerable virtualization company that has been making a sluggish move into cloud computing, for $16.5 billion. Vista intends to merge Citrix with Tibco, which it purchased for $4.3 billion in 2014. Citrix’s debt would assume as part of the all-cash acquisition, according to the firms.
The deal comes after a long period of speculation about the company — Citrix has been looking at strategic options for at least the last five months — that culminated last month with reports that Vista and Elliott would acquire the company for $13 billion, with the most recent speculation being that they would do so. Citrix is currently listed on Nasdaq and will be taken private as part of the agreement. Citrix stockholders would get $104.00 in cash per share, a 24 percent premium over the closing price on December 20, 2021, “the final trading day previous to media reports of a potential bid from Vista and Evergreen,” according to the business. It should be noted that Evergreen was already a shareholder in Citrix before this transaction.
PE firms, like VCs, are sitting on large sums of money that they need to invest right now. One obvious way to deal with this is to buy huge technology companies that need to be restructured and consolidated. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many buyers — that is, enterprises — are looking for more simplified supplier partnerships and better financial around IT services for increasingly-remote workforces. Bringing Citrix and Tibco together could see analytics from the latter cross-sold with virtualization and cloud computing services from the former, at a time when many buyers — that is, enterprises — are looking for more simplified supplier partnerships and better financial around IT services for increasingly-remote workforces.
It also gives the combined company a large customer base right away: Citrix claims the combined company will have 400,000 customers, including 98 percent of the Fortune 500, and 100 million users in 100 countries. “Citrix has established itself as the obvious leader in secure hybrid work during the last three decades.” Our industry-leading platform gives employees secure and dependable access to all of the applications and information they need to get their work done, wherever they are. In a statement, Bob Calderoni, head of the Citrix board of directors and interim chief executive officer and president, said, “By uniting with TIBCO, we will grow this platform and the outcomes our clients accomplish.”
“By partnering with TIBCO, we will be able to operate at a larger scale and offer a broader choice of solutions to help customers accelerate their digital transformations and deliver the future of hybrid work.” We will have more financial and strategic flexibility as a private company, allowing us to engage in high-growth prospects like DaaS and expedite the organization’s continuing cloud shift.” Prior to this purchase, Vista and Citrix had a revolving door: the corporation paid $2.25 billion to buy project management platform Wrike from a private equity group a year ago.
In a statement, TIBCO CEO Dan Streetman stated, “There has never been a better time to be in the business of connected intelligent analytics, and we’re excited to deliver our industry-leading solutions to Citrix’s global customers.”
“The workplace has permanently changed, and businesses everywhere will want real-time access to faster, smarter insights from the ever-increasing volumes of data available to them, their employees, and their ecosystems.” I’m ecstatic about our shared vision and am looking forward to a fruitful collaboration.”
In a statement, Monti Saroya, co-head of Vista’s Flagship Fund and senior managing director, said, “We have always viewed Citrix as a true technology pioneer, inventing and defining so many categories that have changed the landscape of the business.” “As a private company, Citrix will have more resources and freedom to take advantage of strong secular tailwinds with trends favoring modern and secure remote hybrid work to serve the combined client base and invest in high-growth sectors.”
