Jan 31 (Reuters) – The American group Citrix Systems, which specializes in dematerialized computing (“cloud”), announced on Monday its acquisition by the fund Elliott Management and the investment company Vista Equity Partners for 16.5 billion dollars (14.75 billion euros), debt included.
Under the terms of the deal, Citrix shareholders will receive $104 per share, valuing the company at nearly $13 billion.
Reuters reported on Sunday that Elliott and Vista planned to shell out around $13 billion to acquire Citrix to capitalize on the cloud craze fueled further by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The proposed price represents a 24.3% premium to Citrix’s close on Dec. 20, when talks of a joint bid were first reported. It is, however, a 1.5% discount to Friday’s close.
In New York, Citrix action fell 3.6% to 101.8 dollars on Monday in pre-market transactions.
“Today’s announcement is the culmination of a five-month strategic review process, including extensive contact with potential financial and strategic buyers,” said Bob Calderoni, interim chief executive. of Citrix, in a press release.
The group, which provides remote working solutions and networking software to businesses, has failed to capitalize on the boom in telework since the pandemic, due to a lack of investment in its distribution partnerships. It lost 23% last year on the stock market.
The buyers plan to delist Citrix and merge the group with TIBCO Software, Vista’s data analysis company. (Report Chavi Mehta, French version Khadija Adda-Rezig, edited by Blandine Hénault)