Janus Henderson joins Jana Partners to oppose Zendesk's deal for Momentive

Momentive Global

11/01/2022 22:04

Jan 11 (Reuters) - Zendesk Inc  ZEN.N  investor Janus
Henderson Investors said on Tuesday it did not see a strategic
advantage to the software firm's proposed acquisition of
Momentive Global Inc  MNTV.O , joining activist investor Jana
Partners in opposing the deal.
    Zendesk agreed in late October to buy Momentive, the parent
of online survey portal SurveyMonkey, in an all-stock deal,
which at the time was valued at nearly $4 billion.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2RO5WH 
    "We are gravely concerned about the strategic, tactical, and
financial rationale of this proposed deal," Janus Henderson
Investors said in a proxy statement. (https://bit.ly/3fgHuQU)
    "We think the company should instead renew its focus on
executing on the (Zendesk) standalone business." 
    The activist investor did not disclose the size of its stake
in Zendesk, but said it was a large, multi-year shareholder in
the company.
    Refinitiv data showed Janus Henderson held a 4.94% stake in
Zendesk, which had a market capitalization of $12.21 billion as
of stock's last close.
    Zendesk, a customer service software vendor, has seen a
surge in business during the pandemic as its enterprise
customers accelerate digital transformation.
    In November, Jana Partners urged Zendesk to abandon its deal
for Momentive.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2SL42V
    Shares of Zendesk were up marginally in trading after the
bell, while those of Momentive were flat.

 (Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh
Kuber)
 ((Chavi.Mehta@thomsonreuters.com;))